Letter from James Sperry.

Frederick Douglass, Esq.:—It seems to me that the friends of freedom, in this State, ought, without delay, to hold county meetings, and to appoint delegates to the National Convention at Pittsburgh, on the 11th of August.

I am anxious to see the friends of impartial liberty once more standing together against the ever-encroaching and insatiable spirit of slavery. Do say a word to your readers on the subject. It is evident, from the letters of Lewis Tappan and Dr. LeMoyne that the friends of freedom from this State will be welcome to the Pittsburgh Convention.

Yours, truly,

James SperrySperry, James

James Sperry (c. 1787-1867) was a farmer and surveyor living in Henrietta, New York in the mid-nineteenth century. He was one of the earliest settlers in Monroe County, New York, coming from Massachusetts as a young man. He was a proponent of education and helped with the creation of the Monroe Academy near Rochester. The high school in Henrietta was once named for James Sperry. Rochester (NY) Evening Post, 15 June 1866; 1850 and 1860 U. S. Census, Henrietta, Monroe, New York; Orsamus Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps & Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve (Rochester, N.Y.: William Alling, 1852), 191-94; Margaret Schmitt MacNab, Katherine W. Thompson, and Shirley Cox Husted, Northfield on the Genessee (Rochester, N.Y.: Monroe County Historian’s Office, 1981), 292-93. .

Henrietta, July 19th, 1852.