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LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 4, p.381-382
Spry, William, president of the Southern States Mission from 1888 to 1891, was born Jan. 11, 1864, in Windsor, Berkshire, England, the son of Philip Spry and Sarah Field. At the age of eleven years he came to Utah with his parents; was ordained to the Priesthood and called to the [p.382] Southern States on a mission when 21 years of age. He labored as a missionary for six years, the last four of which he had charge of the Mission, which then comprised all the states south of the Mason and Dixon Line. In 1890, he was released long enough to marry Mary Alice Wrathall with whom he raised an interesting family. He began his political life in 1894, when he was elected county collector of Tooele County. In 1902 he went to the State Legislature, was appointed a member of the State Board of Land Commissioners in March, 1905, and later made president of that body. In the fall of 1908, he was elected Governor of the State of Utah, and was elected to serve a second term. He was appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office in 1921 by Pres. Warren G. Harding, and died in Washington, D.C., April 22, 1929. |
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