Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Sperry, George 1837 - 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 9, 2007, 9:20 pm

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

GEORGE SPERRY. The traveler in going past the Sperry homestead invariably 
turns a second glance, as there is an air of comfort and plenty about it that 
is exceedingly pleasant to the eye. He at once singles it out as the result of 
more than ordinary enterprise and industry—a home whose proprietor possesses 
all the attributes of a good citizen, one who has first looked after the 
comfort of his family, and who next, as a member of the community, presents an 
example to those around him which is well worthy of imitation. Mr. Sperry is 
well-to-do, financially, owning besides his farm, valuable city property in 
Joliet. He is widely and favorably known throughout the township, and is 
numbered among its leading men. The fifth in a family of seven children, our 
subject is the son of James and Fanny (Pixley) Sperry, and was born in the 
town of Henrietta, Monroe County, N. Y., April 27, 1837. His early life was 
spent at his father's farm, and his first studies were prosecuted in the 
common schools. Later he attended Monroe Academy in East Henrietta. He 
remained a member of his father's household until reaching his majority, and 
soon afterward was married and settled in Lewiston, N. Y., where for many 
years he was employed as a collector. The young wife lived only about one year 
after her marriage, and after her death Mr. Sperry went to Rochester, and in 
company with E. D. Kallock was engaged for about two years in the sale of 
agricultural implements. In 1856 Mr. Sperry came to this county, and during 
the first winter was engaged as a school teacher in Homer Township. After his 
second marriage he settled on the farm, which he now owns and occupies; and in 
connection with its culi tivation has also followed the profession of a 
teacher. After the outbreak of the Civil War, in July, 1862, he enlisted as a 
Union soldier in Company C, One Hundredth Illinois Infantry, and for nearly 
two years served as a private. He was then commissioned First Lieutenant of 
Company F, Twenty-second New York Cavalry, and served in that capacity for 
four months, being then promoted to a Captaincy. He remained with the same 
regiment, and on the 21st of July was brevetted as Major. In charging a 
battery near Fisher's Hill he was run over by his own squadron, and received 
injuries which incapacitated him for duty for one month. On account of this he 
now enjoys a pension from the Government. He was present in some of the great 
battles of the war, namely: Stone River, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Rocky 
Face, Resaca, Winchester, Cedar Run and Waynesboro. The close of the war found 
him Acting Brigade Quartermaster, responsible for a million dollars and with 
certificates of non-indebtedness from every department of the service. Mr. 
Sperry was first married in Lewiston, N.Y., to Miss Mary D., daughter of the 
Hon. Bates Cook, who was formerly State Comptroller of New York under Gov. 
DeWitt Clinton. Mrs. Mary D. Sperry died without children in 1854. The second 
wife of our subject, to whom he was married in the spring of 1857, was 
formerly Mrs. Emily C. (Hopping) Peck. This lady was born in 1834, in New 
York, and is a daughter of Henry and Lucy (Paddock) Hopping, who are now 
deceased. Henry Hopping died in 1854 in California, whither he had gone with a 
brother, the Hon. Curtis Hopping, who subsequently became one of the leading 
citizens of Sacramento, and there died recently, a wealthy man. Another 
brother, Enos, was educated at West Point and became a Brigadier-General. He 
was with Gen. Scott in his Mexican campaign, where he died. His remains were 
brought to his former home in Syracuse, N. Y., and buried with honor by his 
grateful country-men. The wife of our subject was first married to Oliver F. 
Peck, who died in Homer Township, leaving one child, a daughter, Henrietta. 
The latter married F. E. Rowley, and died in Manhattan Township in 1882. Mrs. 
Sperry is proud of wearing the white ribbon as a member of the Woman's 
Christian Temperance Union. She would feel honored to be well known as a 
defender of prohibition and equal suffrage. Mr. Sperry is a strong supporter 
of the Republican party, having taken an active part in political affairs, and 
in his temperance views he is a radical Prohibitionist. James Sperry and his 
estimable wife, the parents of our subject, were natives of Great Barrington, 
Mass., and settled in Henrietta, Monroe County, N. Y., after their marriage, 
living in that place many years. Thence they removed to the city of Rochester, 
where they spent their last days. Mr. Sperry was a man of decided views, and 
during slavery times was a prominent Abolitionist. The parental family 
consisted of four sons and three daughters, five of whom are living, as 
follows: Henry H. Sperry, former Superintendent of the Document Room, House of 
Representatives, Washington, D. C., and Custom House officer in New York City 
from 1868 to 1874, is now living retired from business in Rochester, N. Y.; 
Dr. M. M. Sperry also lives in Rochester and is a prominent man in his 
profession; Edward lives at Battle Creek, Mich.; our subject, and Sarah A., 
who lives in Baltimore, Md., complete the family list. A portrait of the 
gentleman whose life is thus briefly recorded, and also that of his wife are 
presented on another page of this volume.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 

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