BIO: Lyman Sperry, Wyoming Conference, Methodist Episcopal Church, PA & NY

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Judy Banja & Denise Phillips

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
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Chaffee, Amasa Franklin. History of the Wyoming 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
New York: Eaton & Mains, 1904, pages 250-251.
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  SPERRY, LYMAN, was born in Alford, Mass., on December 15, 1808, and 
died in Unadilla, N.Y., on May 18, 1892.  "For several years he had 
been confined to the house by a singular and painful prostration of the 
muscular system, which gradually wore him until death came as a 
friendly release."
  Early in life his family settled in the vicinity which became his 
home in old age.  Here he made for himself an enviable reputation as a 
teacher, when only nineteen years of age.
  He was converted at a camp meeting held on Bowe Hill (situated a few 
miles above Laurens, Otsego County, N.Y.) while he was still a young 
man.
  He was licensed to exhort by John Roper in 1828, and in 1829 joined 
Oneida Conference, becoming a member of Wyoming Conference with the 
accession of Oneida territory in 1869.
  On January 8, 1832, he married Miss Amanda K. Robertson, of Unadilla, 
N.Y., who kept step with him until April 17, 1890, when she passed 
away.  To them were born two children, a daughter whose qualities as a 
teacher were rare, and a son who was for some time editor of the 
Wilmington Morning News, and afterward minister plenipotentiary to 
Persia from the United States of America.  Husband and wife are buried 
in the cemetery at Unadilla.
  He was studious throughout his ministerial life; indeed, after 
marriage he began the study of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and became 
proficient in them.
  In 1832 he was a delegate to General Conference.
  His pastoral record is as follows:  1829, Sharon; 1830-31, Chenango; 
1832-33, Cherry Valley; 1834-35, Springfield; 1836-37, Oxford; 1838-39, 
Norwich; 1840-41, Sauquoit; 1842-43, Oxford; 1844, Agent of Wesleyan 
University; 1845, Cazenovia; 1846-49, Presiding Elder on Otsego 
District; 1850-53, Presiding Elder on Oneida District; 1854-55, 
Unadilla; 1856, sy.; 1857, Unadilla Mission; 1858-59, sy.; 1860, Mount 
Upton; 1861-62, sy.; 1863-64, Bainbridge; 1865, Sidney; 1866, 
Bainbridge; 1867, Sherburne; 1868-70, Guilford; 1871-72, sy.; 1873-92, 
sd.