Clarence H. St. John did not leave very many clues behind about his life, so frustratingly little can be found on this musician who turned out very few, yet very notable gems during the ragtime era. The following is the best information to date that our research has shown to be likely accurate. He was born just after the 1880 census in Berrien Springs, Michigan, to Luther St. John and Betsy Hoard. The 1900 census showed him living in Oronoko near present day Berrien Springs in the southwest corner of the state, with his profession listed as a musician. That notion may have lasted for close to a decade, during which three of his six known pieces were released by St. Louis-based publisher John Stark.

Since John Stark himself was based in New York City during this period (the company was still in St. Louis), it is very likely that the pieces were submitted by mail, and there is correspondence to support this contention. Why they were sent to Stark instead of local Detroit publisher Jerome H. Remick is unclear, since the quality of his work was unlikely to have been rejected by Remick. Surviving correspondence between Clarence and the Stark company does not reveal any clues to this choice. However, it is plausible that St. John may have had more regard for the Stark catalog and wanted to be a part of it. Certainly the hyperbole that Stark applied to his innovative pieces like Cole Smoak and Meddlesome Rag were encouraging. For Meddlesome Rag he stated the following:

In 1910 Clarence was still living in Oronoko, Michigan, but now in the home next door to his parents, with his wife Lola Belle Smith, whom he had married on December 15, 1907. Their son Victor Clarence St. John was born on February 5, 1909. In this enumeration, Clarence was listed at that time as a printer for a local newspaper. The couple's daughter Princess M. St. John would be born on October 26, 1910. Clarence's 1918 draft record showed him still as a printer, and now living in Berrien Springs. He is seen in census records again both in 1920 and 1930, still as a printer, howeve he was now working out of his Berrien Springs home. Recently uncovered information showed that Clarence had another niche occupation as well. Victor was still living with them at age 21 in 1930, working as a taxidermist, and Princess had just been married to Therold Oatman, who also joined the household. As it turns out, from 1924 to 1940 Clarence was the proprietor of The Gun Shop in Berrien Springs, which may have been closely related to Victor's taxidermy practice. Just the same, in the 1940 census taken in Berrien Springs, Clarence still listed himself as a print jobber.

Clarence and Lola remained in Michigan through the late 1940s before they headed south to warmer climes. By 1952 they were living in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, just south of Daytona on the east coast, then later in nearby Edgewater where he remained. Clarence became somewhat of a philatelist at that time, engaged in stamp collecting. He also continued to write songs and got into short stories, many about the Civil War. An active member of the Masonic Lodge, he was, at the time of his death, the oldest surviving member of the Western Star Lodge, having joined in 1902. Clarence H. St. John passed on in New Smyrna in 1963 at age 82. Lola followed in 1989, and their son Victor in 1994.

Even though St. John's output is small - eight known published pieces of which three are rags - his one standout and a favorite of ragtime performers today remains Cole Smoak. Thought for years to be a piece of Missouri Folk Ragtime, it turns out it is a good imitation at the very least. The essence of the piece seems to not only emulate the rhythms of a train in the A section, but captures elements of stop-time dance in the trio, with a joyous final section as good as most in classic piano rags. That St. John was white and from an area of Michigan that did not produce much ragtime output proves how good music and a passion for it can transcend geography when taken to heart. His other two rags do not stand up as well, but are still fine entries into the collective of classic ragtime.