--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 12 number: 9 published: 1909-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Governor William Spry," *Improvement Era* 12, no. 9 (July 1909): 690–691.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1209unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1209unse start_page: 690 end_page: 691 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1909-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1209unse publication_year: 1909 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1909, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Governor William Spry GOVERNOR WILLIAM SPRY. The present governor of the state of Utah was born in Wind- sor, England, on the 11th day of January, 1864. At the early age of eleven years Mr. Spry came to America with his parents, settling in Utah, where he has resided since the year 1875. His education was obtained in the schools of the state and has been confined to the advantages which could be obtained from the common school branches. He began manual labor early in life and at the age of thirteen worked as a stable boy, and later at railroad work, as a section hand. From this, he advanced to the blacksmith shops where he made a record as a striker — not, however, as one who strikes for better terms or higher wages, but as one who strikes while the iron is hot, a char- acteristic that has continued with him up to date. Quitting the railroad shops, he later engaged in the hide and wool business, in wMch, as in other vocations, he succeeded admirably. At the age of twenty-one, he was called as a missionary to the Southern States. Here he labored for six years, the last four of which were spent in charge of the mission which then com- prised all the states south of the Mason and Dixon Line. In 1890, while yet in the mission field and one year before his release, he married Miss Mary Alice Wrathall. He has an interesting family of children. On his return to Salt Lake City after he had filled his mission in a most honorable manner, he became connected with Zion's Co-operative Mercantile Institution, for which organi- zation he began to labor in the fall of 1891. Quitting this work, he moved to Tooele, in 1893, at which place he engaged in farm- ing and stock-raising with more or less success. His political career began in 1894, when he was elected county collector of GOVERNOR WILLIAM SFRY.