A. William Sperry, president of The Sperry Engineering Company, Inc., and one of the best known civil and constructing engineers of New England, was born in New Haven, January 22, 1870, a son of Alfred N. and Lois E. (Ryerson) Sperry, the father a native of Westville, Connecticut, and the mother a native of Abington, Massachusetts. The name of Sperry has a conspicuous place in the history of New Haven from its early settlement to the present day. The first of the name, of record here, was Richard Sperry, whose name appears as early as January 4, 1683, and who owned Sperry’s farms in Woodbridge, near the Judge’s Cave and westward of West Rock. Richard Sperry was the last friend and protector of the regicides, Goffe and Whalley, at a time when their pursuers from England were trying to find their hiding places. Alfred N. Sperry, father of the subject of this review, became interested in manufacturing pursuits and for many years continued active in manufacturing fields. He still makes his home in New Haven, but his wife passed away in this city May 21, 1902. They were the parents of two children, the brother being Dr. Frederick N. Sperry, a leading physician of New Haven and clinical professor of laryngology and otology at Yale.

  A. William Sperry attended the public schools of his native city and in 1886 he began to learn the profession in which he has achieved such marked success. He entered the employ of Sylvanus Butler, the local land surveyor and former town clerk of New Haven, and the following year entered the employ of the local engineering firm of Bruen & Shepard, the former a graduate of the engineering department of Cornell University and the latter of the engineering department of Yale. Mr. Sperry concentrated his efforts and attention upon the mastery of the work which he had undertaken and day by day added to his knowledge and efficiency. In 1890 the firm of Bruen & Shepard was dissolved, the last named having disposed of his interest to his partner, and Mr. Bruen continued alone for two years, when he sold the business to James P. Bogart, Mr. Sperry remaining with the business during these changes and in 1893 became a partner. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American war in 1898, Mr. Sperry entered the engineering corps in the coast fortifications department, and worked in connection with the eastern defenses of New York city, at New Haven, Stonington, New London, Plum Island and Gull Island. Later he was transferred to the ordnance department. Upon his return home in 1899 the business of the firm was divided and although Mr. Sperry and Mr. Bogart remained in adjoining offices, they conducted their interests individually. This continued up to the time of Mr. Bogart’s death in 1901, when Mr. Sperry purchased his business from the estate and organized The William Sperry Company, Inc., engineers and surveyors. In 1903 the Sperry Engineering Company, contractors, was organized, and in 1905 the two corporations were merged under the present name, Mr. Sperry being president and directing head of the corporations from their inception. The company have [cq] a branch at Bristol, Connecticut, established in 1895 by Mr. Sperry and being conducted under his name for a number of years, until it was incorporated under the present name of Sperry & Buell.

  The Sperry Engineering Company, Inc., have [cq] built many vast enterprises in manufacturing lines as well as public utilities, including electric railways and plants. One of their contracts was the famous Yale Bowl, one of the world’s greatest amphitheaters, which has a seating capacity of seventy-five thousand.

  On the 24th of November, 1909, occurred the marriage of Mr. Sperry and Miss Margery E. Thompson, of East Haven, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Thompson. Their children are Elizabeth Cowles and William Thompson, the former born in 1912 and the latter in 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Sperry are consistent members of Center church.

  Mr. Sperry is a member of the Second Company, Governor’s Foot Guard, and his political views are indicated in his identification with the Young Men’s Republican Club. He belongs to the Union League and the social interests of his life find expression in the Quinnipiac and Country Clubs. In Masonry he is a member of New Haven Commandery, No. 2, Knights Templar, and has attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. All these interests, however, are made subservient to his business as far as time is considered, and yet some of these have constituted the guiding principles of  his life, making him a man among men in all those things which work for upright character. His business record is inspiring in its accomplished purposes.