C. F. Appley, who resides in Oshkosh township, in Winnebago county, is a native of Connecticut, having been born at Norwich, New London county, September 22, 1842. His parents, Luther and Eliza (Sherman) Appley, daughter of Moses and Lucy (Avey) Sherman, were old settlers in Connecticut, and highly respected in the community in which they resided. They came to Winnebago county, Wisconsin, in 1856, and settled in Rushford township, among the Indians, when the only schools in this section were held at private houses. Mr. Appley died in 1875 at the age of sixty-five years, and Mrs. Appley survived until 1905, her death occurring in that year at the age of eighty-nine years at the time of her decease. They were the parents of ten children—our subject being the third child.

In the public schools of Connecticut our subject received his early education, completing it after coming to Wisconsin, and about that time the war broke out, and in 1861 Mr. Appley enlisted in Company D, First Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry, under Colonel Daniels, and later joined the command of Colonel La Grange, and served until the close of the war. He was a, member of the regiment that fired the last shot of the rebellion, and during his first year’s service was in the Army of the West, and from that time until the close he was with General Sherman and participated in the famous March to the Sea. He took part, in the battles of Chickamaugua, Fort Tyler, Cape Girardean, Mo., Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, and obtained his honorable discharge on August 15, 1865. He then entered the government carpenter shop, where he remained until the final close of hostilities and then returned home.

Mr. Appley was married to Miss Harriet Tyler, daughter of Nelson and Lydia (Sherman) Tyler, who, in 1857, came to Wisconsin from Wayne county, Pennsylvania, and located in Rushford township. In early life he was a pilot on the Delaware river for some years, then a lumberman, but spent his later years at farming.

Mr. and Mrs. Appley are the parents of eight children, viz: Driscilla, who is now matron of the Winnebago County Insane Asylum; Frank, who is engage in farming; Luther, a Wisconsin farmer and carpenter; Charles, resides at Menasha, engaged in the manufacture of woodenware; Maud, who is still at home; Lyman, is an electrician and lives in Chicago, and Lena, who is a student at the Oshkosh High School.

Prior to 1869 Mr. Appley spent three years farming in South Dakota, then returned to Winnebago county and purchased a farm of 200 acres in Rushford township, and in all his undertakings, whether in farming or other business ventures, he has been successful.  In politics he is a Republican, and in 1902 took charge of the County Poor Farm and Asylum.  For five years he was chairman of the Rushford Town Board, and for nineteen years has been a member of the School Board.  He is also a member of the Oshkosh Grand Army Post No. 241, and also of the Masonic Lodge, No. 120, of Oshkosh.