Spring Jr. (1826–1901) was a prominent Chicago capitalist during its transition from a frontier town of 30,000 in the 1850s to an industrial metropolis of more than 1.7 million at the turn of the 20th century.
In November 1853, Charles Jr. married Ellen Maria Spring (possibly a relative) in East Hartford, Connecticut.
[citation needed] The following year, Ellen gave birth to Kittie Maria Spring, Charles' only child.
Spring along with wife Eugenia and teenage daughter Kittie, fled from the inferno to the shores of Lake Michigan, where they spent the night waist-deep in the water, dodging flaming pieces of debris.
[1] Within a few days, Spring and the others had opened a temporary office across Ashland Avenue from the old Bull's Head Tavern, and McCormick made the decision to rebuild.
Although he had warned McCormick about the spotty insurance that they carried (as recently as November of the previous year), Spring set into the task of rebuilding with all his might.
[1] The resignation of the man William Hutchinson, McCormick's biographer, called “the experienced and conciliatory C. A. Spring” spelled the darkest days of the firm.
His obituary, in part, read: It was one of his principles that no man should have more than what he considered a moderate fortune, and in keeping his property at the $250,000 mark.
Charles was the elder brother of Winthrop N. Spring, who died along with his wife and daughter in the Iroquois Theatre Fire in 1903.