Cornelia Laws St John

Cornelia Laws St. John (née Williams; born Cornelia Ellicott Williams) was an American poet and biographer. Born in College Hill, Ohio, near Cincinnati, she was the daughter of M.C. Williams and had a brother, Wilber W. Williams, who became a pay inspector for the U.S. Navy. She attended the Ohio Female College, where she excelled in composition and music.

St. John married Joseph P. Laws in 1857, moving to Richmond, Indiana, where many of her popular poems were written. Her works appeared in newspapers like the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune and others. Her notable poems included "The Empty Chair" (1856), "Six Little Feet on the Fender," and "Behind the Post" (both from 1857). After Laws' death, she remarried to Mr. St. John and moved to Chicago.

She authored "Over the Shoulder to Clovernook: Being a Backward Glance at Alice and Phoebe Cary in Their Early Home" (1892) and is best known for her poem "Six Little Feet on the Fender." St. John passed away in New York City on February 24, 1902.