************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ Submitted by Cheryl VanWormer HON. WILLIAM SESSIONS MRS. JULIA (JENNINGS) SESSIONS This gentleman is of English descent, the family having made its home in the United States at a very early day. His father, Nathaniel Sessions, was born in Connecticut, Aug. 20, 1790, and served in the war of 1812. In 1837 he removed to Michigan and settled with his family in the township of North Plains, Ionia Co., when but three other families had located in the same territory. His wife, Chloe (Thompson) Sessions, was born Sept. 27, 1798, in Steuben Co., N. Y. Nathaniel Sessions was by occupation a farmer. William Sessions, who is the third in a family of fourteen children, was born in Marcellus, Onondaga Co., N. Y., May 2, 1821, and was consequently sixteen years of age when his parents removed to Michigan. He had led the life of a "farmer-boy" at the old home in New York, and after coming to Michigan remained until twenty-one years of age with his father, aiding in clearing and improving the farm which had been purchased. Upon attaining his majority he purchased a farm for himself, and cleared two hundred and forty acres of "wild land." March 26, 1854, he was married to Miss Julia A. Jennings, daughter of John and Elizabeth Jennings, of the t ownship of Ronald. Three children blessed this union, of whom two are now living,--Clarence W. Sessions, born Feb. 8, 1859, and John Sessions, born Dec. 23, 1863. the elder son has been for three years a student in the Michigan University at Ann Arbor. Mr. Sessions has held most of the offices in his township,--supervisor ten years, township clerk six years, township treasurer, school inspector, highway commissioner, et. In the fall of 1872 he was elected to the Legislature of the State and served one term (two years), In 1871 he moved his family to the city of Ionia. Mr. Sessions is now fifty-nine years of age, and, though practically retired from active life, is still engaged in business, being a member of the lumber firm of Hynes & Sessions, of Sheridan. He has ever been an active and industrious man. Politically he is a Republican. He is a trustee and deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and has been prominent in church matters. Socially, Mr. Sessions is a man who enjoys the confidence and implicit trust of his acquaintances, and is an honor to the community in which he resides. This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia: D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881. Page 167.