[1] His father was John Spring (1706–1794), a militia man and local wealthy farmer, and his mother was Sarah Read (1716–1800).

His father was the town's moderator, selectman, and surveyor of highways, but lacked even a rudimentary education.

Nathan Webb, founding pastor of the first Congregational church begun in the First Great Awakening period of the Massachusetts Colony.

Webb's early training of Spring helped prepare him to enter New Jersey College (now Princeton University), where he graduated in 1771.

At Fort Western, near what is now Augusta, Maine, Spring counseled Private James McCormick, who was sentenced to death, only to be reprieved.

Benedict Arnold's leg was shattered in the siege of Quebec, during the ill-fated New Year's Eve assault on the fortress city walls.

Colonel John Patterson's regiment was dispatched to Quebec to shore up American positions.

He was very influential in a fundamentalist wing of the Congregational Church and many of his sermons and discourses were printed and widely disseminated.