EPHRAIM ST. JOHN. One of the old-time maxims is "Be sure you are right, then go ahead.” The man of deliberation and forethought usually wins the race in the end, and is one whose last days are seldom embittered with the result of hasty action. The subject of this sketch is peculiar in this respect, being a man who weighs well each important action, and one whose good judgment seldom leads him astray. He has thus made for himself an honorable and dignified record. He is one of the representative men of Riley County and a resident of Zeandale Township, where he has a well-regulated farm of eighty acres, on section 23. He occupies a substantial stone house, which, with its surroundings, impresses the passerby with its air of comfort and plenty.

The subject of this sketch was born in Walton, Delaware Co., N. Y., Sept. 15, 1838, and was the fifth in a family of seven children, the offspring of Ephraim. Sr., and Amelia (Goodrich) St. John, who were likewise born in that county. The parents, after marriage, continued their abode there, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Ephraim was reared to manhood in his native county, making his home with his parents, acquiring a common-school education and assisting in the labors of the farm until a young man of twenty years. Then in the spring of 1859 he came to the Territory of Kansas and pre-empted eighty acres of land, which is now included in his present farm, and where he has since resided. The country was then a wild, uncultivated tract, over which Indians and wild animals roamed unrestrained. The outlook was such as to try the most courageous spirit, but Mr. St. John was equal to the emergency, and maintained his residence here amid the various difficulties and drawbacks with which the early history of Kansas was pregnant. He lived in the most economical manner during those first years, cultivating his land and effecting improvements until he had attained a solid foothold financially.

Mr. St. John was first married in Manhattan Township, in the fall of 1861, to Miss Romania B. Persons. This lady was born in Connecticut, and died at the homestead, in Zeandale Township, in the spring of 1867. Of this union there was born one child. Mr. St. John contracted a second marriage in the spring of 1869, at Hamden, Delaware Co., N. Y., with Miss Alice J. Mallory. This lady was likewise a native of Delaware County, N. Y., and was born June 22. 1851. Of her union with our subject there is one child only, a daughter, Lillian A., a young lady of much promise, who is now a student at the Agricultural College.

Mr. St. John, politically, supports the principle of the Republican party, and with his wife belongs to the Manhattan Grange. He has served as a County Commissioner three years, likewise as Township Trustee, Justice of the Peace, and Township Clerk. He is a man prompt to meet his business obligations, and one whose word is considered as good as his bond.