Charles A. Spring, Jr.

Charles A. 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. He was a key figure in its rise, serving as inventor Cyrus McCormick's closest adviser and as general manager of the McCormick Harvesting Company for many years.

Charles A. Spring, Jr. was born in Boston in 1826, and spent his first years there and then in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Charles A. Spring, Sr., was a dry goods merchant at the time, and his grandfather was Reverend Samuel Spring. In 1837, the family moved west and settled into farming at Rock Island, Illinois. After Charles Jr.'s mother died in 1850, the Springs went into the boot and shoe business in Chicago under the name C. A. Spring & Sons.

In November 1853, Charles Jr. married Ellen Maria Spring (possibly a relative) in East Hartford, Connecticut. The couple were married by Charles' uncle, Reverend Samuel Spring, Jr., who was attached to a church there.

The following year, Ellen gave birth to Kittie Maria Spring, Charles' only child. Soon afterwards, in 1855, Charles went to work for the inventor Cyrus McCormick, a friend of his father's, in the McCormick Reaper factory in Chicago. Charles' father and siblings moved south to Manteno, Illinois and returned to farming by around 1858, but Charles Jr. stayed on in Chicago.

In 1861, his wife Ellen died at the age of 27, leaving Spring alone with a six-year-old daughter.

Upon the death of William Sanderson McCormick (the brother of the inventor) in 1865, Spring replaced him as superintendent and general manager of McCormick & Co., and as the manager of Cyrus McCormick's extensive real estate holdings and other financial concerns. The following year (1866), he married Eugenia B. Keith, his first cousin on his mother's side.

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