Ulysses S. Grant St. John
Ulysses S. Grant St. John, better known among his friends as Grant St. John, the proprietor of the old Daniel Sutton place on the New Jasper pike in New Jasper township, rural mail route No. 1 out of Jamestown, was born on a farm in Caesarscreek township on July 3, 1869, son of John W. and Phoebe Ann (Heiny) St. John, the latter of whom, bom in Virginia, died in 1895. John W. St. John, who is still living and a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, also was born in Caesarscreek township, December 29, 1831, one of the ten children bom to Daniel W. and Eliza (Bone) St. John, who were among the earliest settlers in that township. Daniel W. St. John was a son of John and Rhoda (Wood) St. John, as is set out in the review above referred to, wherein also is contained a detailed history of the St. John family in this county and to which the attention of the reader is respectfully invited in connection with tliis review of the life of Grant St. John.
Grant St. John grew up on the home farm in Caesarscreek township, received his schooling in the nearby district school and remained at home until his marriage when twenty-four years of age. He then rented a farm in the neighborhood of Cedarville and began operations on his own account, afterward moving from there up into Clark county, where he was engaged in farming for several years, at the end of which time, in 1912, he returned to Greene county and bought a farm in Caesarscreek township. A year later he sold that farm and bought the farm of eighty-two acres on which he is now living. This is the farm that formerly belonged to Mr. St. John's wife's grandfather, Daniel Sutton.
On February 26, 1893, Mr. St. John was united in marriage at Jamestown, to Sidney Lois Sutton, who was born in New Jasper township, daughter of Daniel H. and Mary C. (Blessing) Sutton, both of whom also were born in this state, members of pioneer families, and both of whom died in October, 1910, the former on the 2nd of that month and the latter on the 11th. Both the Suttons and the Blessings were among the early residents of Greene county, these families having been represented here for a hundred years and more. Daniel H. Sutton was born on the farm on which Mr. and Mrs. St. John are now living, in January, 1841, son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Spahr) Sutton, and there grew to manhood. He married Mary C. Blessing, who was born at Spring Valley, in October, 1841, a daughter of Marcus and Maria (Crumley) Blessing, the former of whom was the proprietor of a hotel and a mill at Spring Valley and also a landowner in that vicinity, and after his marriage bought one hundred acres of his father's place, established his home there and there he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of three children, Mrs. St. John, the last born, having a sister, Maria, wife of S. B. Levalley, of New Jasper township, and a brother, Marcus Sutton, unmarried, who is operating his father's old home place adjoining the farm owned by Mr. St. John.
William G. Sutton, who was the father of Daniel Sutton, father of Daniel H. Sutton, Mrs. St. John's great-grandfather, was bom in New Jersey and there grew to manhood and married, later moving to Kentucky, whence, in 1803, he and his wife Lois and their children came up into the valley of the Little Miami and settled in Greene county. He took up land in the Military Tract south of the then embryonic city of Xenia. He and his wife were the parents of seven children, four sons and three daughters, and the descendants of these children in the present generation form a numerous connection hereabout. Daniel Sutton, grandfather of Mrs. St. John, was born in 1802 and was thus but an infant when his parents came to this county. He grew up on the home place south of Xenia and married Elizabeth Spahr, who was born in Virginia in 1804 and who was but a child when her parents, Philip and Mary (Schick) Spahr, came to Greene county and settled south of Xenia. Philip Spahr and wife reared a family of ten children and that family also has a wide connection throughout the county. After his marriage Daniel Sutton established his home on the old home place on Caesars creek and became the proprietor of two hundred and twenty acres. He died in 1860 and his widow survived him for nearly twenty-five years, her death occurring in 1884, she then being eighty years of age. They were the parents of fifteen children, all of whom lived to maturity and twelve of whom married and reared families. Mr. and Mrs. St. John have one child, a son, Fred Howard, born on November 14, 1901. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at New Jasper. Mr. St. John is a Republican.
From History of Greene County Ohio, Its People, Industries and Institutions, vol. 2. M.A.Broadstone, editor. B.F.Bowen & Co., Indianapolis. 1918