SPERING, Francis Edwin, born in Northampton county, Penn., January 13, 1826; died in Marengo, Iowa, July 25, 1892; was for many years' editor of the Marengo Republican and was for seventeen years connected with the New York Herald, most of the time in the responsible position of day foreman. His father, William E.  Spering, was a lawyer of favorable repute in his section of the state, who was honored with numerous public trusts, and was married to Hannah Ewing, who came of a highly respected family and is spoken of as a Christian lady of noble aspirations and rare attainments. They brought up a family of eight sons and three daughters, of whom Francis was the sixth son.

The latter was early thrown upon his own resources, and having energy, ambition and a fixed purpose in life, he succeeded, though he had only a common school education.  At the age of 11 years he began his life as an apprentice in the office of the Northampton Whig, a small weekly newspaper published in his hometown. At the age of 14 he had mastered his trade and accepted a position on the Jeffersonian Republican, in Stroudsburg, Penn. At the close of the Harrison campaign in 1844, with a partner, he took charge of the paper. Although young and inexperienced and having very small capital, they were successful and the partnership continued until the winter of 1848, when young Spering retired and the following spring went to Honsdale, Penn, and took charge of a democratic paper at that place, where he remained until January, 1849. In May, 1849, he went to New York and entered the composing room of the New York Herald. Close attention to his work soon gained the appreciation of his employers and he was made day foreman of the Herald composing room at the age of 23 years, occupying a position of great responsibility and trust on one of the greatest daily newspapers in the world. His seventeen years of continuous service on the Herald marked an epoch of the most rapid strides of advancement in the history of journalism, embracing the active years of the career of James Gordon Bennett, Sr., including the stirring times before and during the civil war and reaching well down into the period of reconstruction. It was the best kind of schooling for Mr. Spering and he soon developed into a writer of recognized force and ability; but he decided to establish a business of his own, though he might have attained distinction in New York. The west offered wonderful opportunities. Cities were springing up and the wilderness was fast developing into a blaze of activity and improvement. Mr. Spering severed his connection with the Herald and started west. 

In July, 1866, he bought the Montezuma Republican, In the thriving county seat of Poweshiek county, which he conducted until the following February, when he removed to Marengo, the county seat of Iowa county, and purchased a half interest in the Marengo Republican, having as a partner, H. R Crenshaw, a popular young soldier, well qualified for the work. The paper soon took rank among the best weekly publications in the state and the partnership was continued until the spring of 1884, when Mr. Spering bought his partner's share and continued the business as editor and proprietor until his death.

Mr. Spering was a whig until the disorganization of that party, when he assisted in organizing the republican party and devoted his masterly talent as a thinker and writer to the service of that party during the rest of his life. He was postmaster at Marengo under the Grant administration and held a number of minor positions of honor and trust in the community. He was a devout member of the Episcopal church and was for many years vestryman at Marengo. During his younger years he was somewhat of a leader in society, but during the latter part of his life he was devoted exclusively to the interests of his business and to the comforts of his home. While he had a warm heart, willing hand and kind disposition, he had a gruff exterior which sometimes made him misunderstood. He was thoroughly devoted to business and when failing health rendered him unable to make his daily visits to his office he failed rapidly.

In 1857 Mr. Spering was married in New York to Mrs. Margaret Williams, a Christian woman of respectibility and refinement, who died in 1862. They had no children. In 1864 he was married to Miss Phoebe West of Milford, Penn., a cultivated and refined young woman of a highly respected family, who survived him as his widow. To them was born one child, Louise, who died in infancy.