Who is William ( from The Botany of Desire and what is their importance?

William Ellery Jones, fifty-one years old at the time of the book's publication, is presented as Ohio's leading authority on Johnny Appleseed. By profession, Jones is a fund-raising consultant, but by passion he is an Appleseed historian. During the time period considered in the book (roughly 2000 CE), Jones is raising money to establish a Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center and Outdoor Theater near Mansfield, Ohio. Jones is presented as a consummate Appleseed enthusiast, but the author finds most of Jones' purportedly historical information to be over-enthusiastic and suspect. During Chapter 1, the author spends several hours in Jones' company as they visit numerous sites important in Appleseed history and discuss the man and the legend at considerable length. In general, any story critical of Appleseed's actions or intentions is dismissed by Jones as fallacious, while any story promoting Appleseed's generosity or larger-than-life person is credited by Jones as fully authenticated. The author attends one of Jones' lectures and dismisses the content as "pap" (p. 31) presented for a modern, urban sensibility. Given the author's nearly hostile presentation of Jones, it is peculiar that Jones figures in such a personal and prominent way in Chapter 1. Jones receives a personal mention in the Sources of the text and is the editor of Johnny Appleseed: A Voice in the Wilderness, an anthology of historical writings on John Chapman.