George Claire St. John, head master of the Choate School at Wallingford, Connecticut, was born in Simsbury, Connecticut, September 29, 1877. His father, Edward Francis St. John, a native of this state, devoted his life to farming. He was a member of the Connecticut legislature for a numher of years and a man of prominence in public affairs, exercising considerable influence over public thought and action. He was the third in descent in a family that lived on an old estate at Simsbury which was purchased by the great-grandfather, Elijah St. John, who came to Simsbury from Norwalk.

The mother of George Claire St. John was Charlotte Cushman, a daughter of Thomas Cushman, of East Granby, Connecticut. Her father was a son of Elisha Cushman, a Baptist minister, who was born in Philadelphia and devoted his life to the work of the ministry, becoming pastor of the Hartford Baptist church, where lie remained for thirteen years. He vas, as it were, to the manner born, being a descendant of the Rev. Robert Cushman, who came from England as a member of the Mayflower band and preached the first sermon at Plymouth. He was the first considered in the first distribution of land that was made. He later returned to England, where he died, leaving his .son Thomas in charge of Governor Bradford, by whom he was reared. George Claire St. John was the youngest in a family of three children: Harmon St. John, who is farming the old homestead; Nellie Louisa, the wife of Lucius Seymour, a farmer of East Granby; and George Claire.

In the public schools of Hartford, George Claire St. John pursued his studies and was graduated from the Hartford high school with the class of 1898. He then entered Harvard and won his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1902. Taking up the profession of teaching, he has devoted his life to the work and has made a splendid record, contributing largely to educational progress in Connecticut. He was a teacher of English in the Hill school at Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 1902 and 1903 and a teacher in the Adirondack (Fla.) school at Rainbow Lake from 1903 until 1907. He was head of the English department in the Hackley school at Tarrytown, New York, in 1907 and 1908, after which he became head master in the Choate School at Wallingford, in September, 1908, remaining in this position to the present time and giving entire satisfaction by the thoroughness and efficiency of his work, which is the expression of high ideals in teaching.

His phenomenal success in the administration of the school has won him distinction as an educator. Since 1908 he has built up the institution from a small school with an attendance of forty to a large and magnificent establishment with an enrollment of one hundred and eighty boys. It is now recognized as one of the lending preparatory schools of New England. One familiar with his work has said that two things are responsible for his success—first, his power of organization and the character of the group of men with whom he has surrounded himself; and second, his unique influence in bringing out all that is best in the boys and in the men associated with him in his work. He is a member of the Head Masters' Association and of the National Institute of Social Sciences.

On the 23d of June, 1906, in New Haven, Mr. St. John was united in marriage to Clara Hitchcock, a daughter of the late Thomas Day Seymour, of Yale University. The marriage was celebrated by President Dwight of Yale and has been blessed with four children: Elizabeth Seymour, born August 5, 1908; George Claire, Jr., born December 4, 1910; Seymour; February 28, 1912; and Francis Cushman, July 31, 1916.

In the social circles of the city Mr. and Mrs. St. John occupy an enviable position and enjoy the warm regard of all with whom they have been brought in contact. Mr. St. John is recognized as one of the prominent educators not only of Wallingford but of Connecticut and in the Choate School has introduced many improved methods which are the expression of his own ideals in educational work.