Businessman, and Entrepreneur. He was a successful publisher of popular reference books and works by noteworthy personalities. He was born one of eight children as William Henry Appleton to Daniel Appleton Jr. (1785-1849), also a publisher and the founder of D. Appleton & Company in New York, New York, and his wife Hannah Adams Appleton (1791-1859), in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on January 27, 1814. He was educated locally and later joined his father in the family publishing business, D. Appleton & Company located in New York, New York, first as a clerk in 1831 when he was sixteen years old to eventually becoming a partner. He then became a senior member of D. Appleton & Company upon his father's retirement from the business in 1848. He was later joined in partnership with his four other brothers. The brothers inherited the business on the death of their father on March 27, 1849. Under his leadership, he became D. Appleton & Company's representative in London, England, in 1853, and was active in the struggle for international copyright and also went on and served a term as the President of the American Publishers Copyright League. His company published works by the likes of authors, philosophers, and scientists, including John Stuart Mill (1806-1873), Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Hall Caine (1853-1931), Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), Thomas Henry Huxley, and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). His company also published several important reference books including, "The New American Cyclopædia" (1858-1863), "Webster's Spelling Book" (1866), "Appletons' Cyclopædia Of American Biography" (1887–1900), "Applied Mechanics" (1897), and "Annual Cyclopœdia" (1885–1903). He himself was the author of the work, "Letters On International Copyright" (1872). He was married to Mary Moody Worthen Appleton (1824-1884), in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 16, 1844. The couple had four children together, William Worthen Appleton Jr. (1845-1924), Catharine "Kate" Appleton (1848-1873), Mary Appleton (1850-1934), and Henry Cozzens Appleton (1863-1935). His brother-in-law was William Ezra Worthen (1819-1897), a civil engineer and President of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1897, and his grandson, through his son William, was William Henry Appleton (1866–1951), a prominent yachtsman who married Noel Johnston, granddaughter of John Taylor Johnston, former president of the Central Railroad of New Jersey and the founding president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A prominent figure in publishing for a period of sixty years until his death, he was also one of the earliest members of the Century Association, joining in 1847, a member of the Union Club of New York, the Riding Club, and the Aldine and Players' Club. He passed away from ill health due to old age in Riverdale, New York, on October 19, 1899, at the age of 85. Following his death, his funeral service was held at the Christ Church in Riverdale, New York, and he was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. He was married to Mary Moody Worthen Appleton (1824-1884), in Lowell, Massachusetts, on April 16, 1844, and the couple had a daughter named Kate Appleton Geary (1848-1873). His wife Mary and daughter Kate are buried with him in Woodlawn Cemetery in Bronx, New York. His home in Waive Hill, which was built in 1843, was later turned into a botanical garden in the Riverdale Section of the Bronx, New York. It is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places NYC Landmark No. 0131. The Appleton City, Missouri, was named after the publisher, in appreciation of his donation to the town's library in 1870.