Again it has fallen to my lot to personally chronicle something of the life of a man who has been an active factor in the official life of Henderson County--a man whom to know fully was to honor and respect; as I have heretofore written of others of his type who have played their parts on the stage of human life and made their exit into the Unknown Beyond. William Franklin Appleby, son of A.R. and the late Mrs. Donie Roberts Appleby, ws born in the old third district of Henderson County, July 22nd, 1879. He was found dead in his bed in room 16 of the Hotel Lexington, Thursday morning, February 28th, 1924. On February 19th, Mr. Appleby left his place of business as United States Marshall in Memphis and came out to Jackson on business which his wife urged him to postpone, but he had lost much time by illness and was anxious to make the trip, which was continued in Lexington on the Friday following. Here he spent the time with his sister, Mrs. F.W. Hall at Hall's Store, five miles west of Lexington and then with his uncle, C.T. Roberts, two miles north of town, and on the day before his death he came into town and registered at the hotel, where he sat up comparatively late in the rooms of his brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel T. Parker. On the 5th day of May 1901, Mr. Appleby was most happily married to Miss Lessie, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Parker at Wildersville, who has been to him a helpmete indeed. To this union four children were born--Chester, John, Mary Beth and Joe , all of whom, with the mother, survive except John, who was killed by accident about five years ago. In 1902, following examination by the late Judge John M. Taylor of the State Court of Civil Appeals, Mr. Appleby was admitted to the bar at Lexington, and while he has practiced his profession alone and in partnership with Hon. L.B. Johnson, the major part of his time was devoted to the discharge of duties in the three county offices of which he was elected--Clerk of the Circuit Court, County Judge and Trustee. His education was limited, obtained in the county schools and in the Southern Normal at Huntingdon, but he was naturally a brilliant business man, with rare talents combined with marked personal magnetism. In 1908 he was elected Clerk of the Circuit Court of Henderson County, filling the office of one term of four years, after which he was elected County Judge in 1912, serving the term of six years and before he was regularly elected Trustee in 1918. He filled out the unexpired term of S.F. Rosson, resigned. Some of these statements may not be accurate as to time served, but the facts go to show how Will Appleby was trusted by the people of his county. When he made application for the position of United States Marshall for the Western District of Tennessee, under the Harding administration, he met bitter opposition, but he won, as he had won practically all of his home fights, and until he was stricken with illness, he was filling with efficiency the position with which he had been honored by the Federal Government. In politics, he was a Republican and while always ready to give a reason for his political faith, he drew to himself in bonds of friendship many men with whom he held nothing in common politically, and so it was with his religious faith, that of the Christian Church. He accorded willingly to every man the poltical and religious freedom he claimed for himself and was guaranteed by the constitution. I do not know any relation in life in which Will Appleby had not a winning way and certainly he won and kept many friends. As an official, he was always patient and courteous, bearing with the frailties of others more thanhe would ask others to bears on his own. He grew up more as a chum than as a son to his father, who was both parents to him in his late boyhood, for his mother died when he was seventeen. Besides his immediate family of wife and three children, he is survived by his devoted father, his one brother, John of New York, and his sister, Lizzie (Mrs. F.W.) Hall, this county. The last service over his remains was held in the home built by himself, two miles north of Lexington, now occupied by his uncle, Mr. C. T. Roberts. The service was conducted by Mr. Coleman Overby, pastor of the Christian Church of Lexington, Prof. J.O. Brown, of the same faith, and Rev A. N. Goforth, pastor of the Southern Methodist Church. After the service in the Roberts home, the remains were carried three miles to the Hare graveyard.

The Lexington Progress