Mary L. Appleton (b. Hovey) (1844-1917) was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and died in Reading, Massachusetts. In 1871 she married Thomas Appleton in Essex, Massachusetts. He was a Civil War veteran who had served in Company E, 8th Massachusetts Infantry. He was also a railroad engineer, civil engineer, and the founder and first president of the Society of Constructors of Federal Buildings. In 1884 Appleton moved to East Saginaw, Michigan, where her husband had been appointed city engineer. In 1891 they relocated to Chicago and sometime after 1902 back to Massachusetts. In 1886 Appleton's acquaintance, Annie R. Smith, wrote to Mary Baker Eddy to order a copy of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures on her behalf.

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