PIONEER PREACHER DEAD
REV. CARPUS CLARK SPERRY PASSES, AGED 79
No source given: He died on 6 June 1909
He came to Oregon in 1851 and Has Filled Baptist Pulpits Ever Since Continuously.
Brownsville, Or., June 7 – (Special) – Rev. Carpus Clark Sperry, one of Oregon’s first Baptist ministers, died at his home in this city yesterday at 5 P.M. of paralysis, following illness since May 26.
The Rev. Mr. Sperry was born in Lawrence County, Ohio, on October 8, 1830. He moved to Iowa in 1840 and there embraced the Baptist faith. He was married to Miss Rachel A. Fulton in Jefferson County, Mo., on February 12, 1851, and on April 1, 1851, with his bride started by ox team for Oregon, arriving here the same year. He settled near Brownsville. He was licensed to preach in 1857 and worked continually for his church from that time until his death.
In about 1858, he moved to Shasta County, California, where he remained for four years, assisting in organizing two or three Baptist churches. He then returned to Brownsville and was ordained by the Pleasant Butte Church. He was its pastor until 1866 when he moved to Eastern Oregon and spent two years traveling for his health. In 1883 the Brownsville church again called him, and he returned to his old home and preached for that church and the outlying stations until 1888. After that he was pastor at Halsey, Scio, Harrisburg, and Providence.
Mr. Sperry was this state’s most popular and widely known pioneer minister, and he probably preached more funeral sermons than any other living pioneer minister. He preached continuously until May 23, 1909, his last sermon being at the Center schoolhouse, south of Brownsville. He was stricken with paralysis on May 26. Mrs. Sperry died on June 16, 1900.
Six children were born to Rev. and Mrs. Sperry, four of whom survive him, as follows:
- W. O. Sperry
- Mrs. E. A. Hale, of this place;
- Mrs. W. F. Skiff, of Salem;
- Mrs. E. S. Warren, of Portland.
The following brothers and sisters also survive him:
- J. B. Sperry, of Cody, Wyo.;
- E. G. Sperry, of Brownsville;
- G. W. Sperry, of Heppner;
- Ira Sperry, of Goldendale, Wash.;
- Mrs. O. H. Collins, of Red Bluff, Cal;
- Mrs. Mary Hale of Ione, Or.;
- Mrs. M. C. Cochran, of Riverside, Wash.;
- Mrs. W. W. Weatherford of Olex, Or.;
- Mrs. J. H. Wood, of Arlington, Or.
Did you know: Burlington jail – A man by the name of John Sperry built the stone jail at Burlington after the log jail burned down.
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