You're welcome 
We do love a good mystery on here, and you now have plenty of good material to digest.
22 January 1893 - supposed date of birth of your Francis
22 April 1894 - "Mann Sperry" (sp?) with "Francis" aged 1 year three months, arrives into Philadelphia.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-21553-2588-16?cc=1921481
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/DGS-004759427_00059?cc=1921483
Could be a badly written "Maria" or similar? The claim to be US citizens could just mean that Mr Sperry was one (no separate naturalisation process for women). Unfortunately there's no indication of all of where precisely their destination was other than "returning home".
Jorose's instincts were spot on here- the corresponding outbound passenger list (for the Ohio, departing Liverpool 11 April 1894) shows this pair as Maria Sperry, 25, wife, and Francis Sperry, 1, infant.
I have just been discussing this with a surviving son of Fabian, my Uncle Lew, who is now 95. He visited England some time ago and met some of the Pountney's. Apparently there were two Mary Ann Marzie / Marjie / Polly daughters both born to the same parents, so there is some justifiable confusion between the two. I'm not entirely clear on how that exactly worked, but there may have been an Auntie Marzie as well.
What still puzzles me is that while is seems Wilford may have been a con man / ladies man, his real name may or may not have been one of his alias's as shown in the Weekly Mail when he was convicted as Hawley alias Howard and other names in 1902. The records for Fabian aged 1 yr 3 months and "Mann" aged 25 (no sex given) are 1894 and shipped on the Ohio to Philidelphia. And yet, they are known as "Sperry" even at that time. If Wilford was convicted in 1902 it is unlikely he would have been in NZ at the same time. Mary Ann shipped to NZ with two children in 1896 from San Fransisco. She had the first of 2 more children in 1901 to Cullern (probably out of wedlock) and we know in the family that her two "Sperry" boys (Fay and Reggie) were sent into an orphanage about that time. Poor little fellows would only have been 8 or so years at that time. Grandad got out of there about 14 years of age and came back to extract his younger brother later when he was able.
Q> Who was the "Sperry " she married (in England?--Henry Sperry?) about 1890-93?
Q Was Sperry an American citizen whom she followed back to America in 1894?
Q What happened to her husband Henry(?) Sperry?
Q Mary Ann arrived in Auckland NZ on the Monowai from San Francisco 3rd Jan 1896 with 2 children but apparently no husband. Fay would have been almost 3 yrs and Reggie 1 1/2-2 yrs.
Q If there were actually TWO Mary Ann Pountneys of the same parents, which Mary Ann did Wilford marry in 1887? Could it have been the former older one?
Q Why were there no children from the Wilford marriage--or were there?
Q Is it possible there are two or more William Wilford's?
Q If Mary Ann Pountney (later Sperry) did marry a William Wilford in 1887 then she must have split from him prior to the birth of Francis Fabian Matterson Sperry in 1893 and this in turn would indicate it unlikely she was one of his (if he is the same as the bigamist) later victims duped into bigamy and out of money.
Crikey
