The Biographical Dictionary of America/Appleton, William Hyde

APPLETON, William Hyde, educator, was born in Portland, Me., June 10, 1842. His younger brother was John Howard Appleton, chemist. He prepared for college and entered Harvard university in the class of 1860. After his graduation he studied law, and afterward received the degrees of Master of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from Harvard. He then served as an instructor in Greek at Harvard for two years, and subsequently went abroad, where he studied in the German universities, returning to America in 1872, to become professor of the Greek and German languages in Swarthmore college. After ten years' service in that capacity he was given a year's leave of absence, and in 1881 sailed for another period of study abroad. He spent most of his vacation in study in Greece, and returning in 1882 resumed his work at Swarthmore, as professor of the Greek and English languages and literature. In 1888, the degree of Ph.D. was conferred upon him by Swarthmore college in honor of his long and eminently successful connection with the institution. In 1889 he became acting-president of the college, and in the following year was elected president. Preferring his work as teacher, he consented to hold the office only until a successor should be appointed, and in 1891, upon the election of Charles De Garmo as president, he resumed his former duties. He published in 1893 "Greek-Poets in English Verse."