The Cyclopædia of American Biography/Springer, Marguerite Warren
SPRINGER, Marguerite Warren, wife of Warren Springer (q.v.), b. in Newark, Ohio, 27 March, 1872, daughter of John V. and Mary F. (Ferguson) Maginness. Through her father she is a descendant of one of the oldest and proudest families of Ireland, while her mother's ancestry is traced to Major Ferguson, one of the first six in Pennsylvania to sign the membership roll in the Cincinnati, of which he was a founder. Her environment as a child was not one of this progressive age, but rather of a realm of the past. She was educated in a convent, and when but a girl revealed an unusual interest in the great problems of the day. Mrs. Springer engaged in varied educational work in connection with prominent reform movements to conserve the true spirit and conditions of home and social life. She is one of the Board of managers of the National Society. Daughters of the Revolution, and state regent of the Illinois Society. With a charming presence and pleasing voice, she is a most fascinating lecturer, deeply interested in questions which are claiming the most serious attention of the learned men of the day. Exceedingly original in her thought, it is a delight to hear her speak either from the platform or in private life, while her subtle wit and vitriolic satire give zest to her most ordinary conversation. Dr. Oscar L. Triggs, of the University of Chicago, dedicated his book, “Chapters in the History of the Arts and Crafts Movement,” to her, on account of her devotion to Industrial Art. Mrs. Springer is a member of the Chicago Press League, and an active organizer of the “Fields and Workshops Society,” which is international in its scope, and has among its members many prominent men and women of the country. She is a womanly woman of exquisite taste and refinement, and is interested in the beautiful and rare and unique. Mrs. Springer is the owner of many valuable pieces of ancestral pewter, priceless China, matchless homespun linen and antique copper and silver vessels, the accumulation of centuries. There are few women so well versed in all things antique as Mrs. Springer, and it is an education to listen to her tell of Colonial times and customs. Among her treasures is an old-fashioned cabinet, crowded with ancient blue dishes, wonderful heirlooms from her great-grandmother. She has added to this wonderful collection three pieces of early Delft, the first china plates for which she paid $1,500. A mahogany table, with a century or two of years its dower, and a collection of all sorts of rare curios, are her delight. Possibly her most valued possession is an immense four-posted bed, on which George Washington slept. Proud of her ancestry, her greater pride is in the possibilities of the present and their achievement. Mrs. Springer is a graduate physician, and among her diplomas and certificates those most highly prized are a special certificate in gynecology and abdominal surgery and the authority to practice medicine and surgery in the State of Illinois. Mrs. Springer has done excellent service, not only in educational movements, but for all municipal, national, and patriotic causes. Alike by ancestry, by taste, by study and conviction, she is a true American patriot. She combines the characteristics of the refined woman, the cultured scholar, and the devoted friend. She possesses great benevolence of heart and believes in practical charity. Since the death of her husband, she has been actively engaged in the management of his vast business interests. She is a woman of wide business capacity, and many of the most discouraging difficulties have been surmounted by her determination, self-reliance, and unusual energy.