************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ Submitted by Cheryl VanWomer HON. ALONZO SESSIONS.* MRS. CELIA (DEXTER) SESSIONS Hon. Alonzo Sessions, of Ionia, was born Aug. 4, 1810, in Marcellus, Onondaga Co., N. Y. His grandfather owned and worked a rough, stony farm in Connecticut. He had a family of eleven children, all of whom were obliged to earn their own living. Of these, Amasa Sessions, father of Alonzo, was the eldest child, and at the age of nineteen made his way on foot into the wilderness of Central New York. He had acquired the rudiments of an education, and by teaching and clearing land obtained means to purchase a farm on the east side of Skaneateles Lake. There he remained until near the time of his death, which occurred in 1838. His wife, Phebe Smith, was the youngest daughter of Job Smith, an officer in the Revolutionary army. Her brother, Lewis Smith, was sheriff of Onondaga County and a member of the New York Legislature. She was remarkable for her modest, quiet disposition, love of her home and family, and untiring industry; she had nine children, all of whom survive her. Alonzo Sessions was trained in frugal, industrious habits. He made diligent use of his opportunities for an education, and, after leaving school at Skaneateles, taught at Galen, Wayne Co., and Owasco, Cayuga Co. In 1831 he went to Bennington, where he was engaged two years as clerk in a store. As compensation he received his board and ten dollars per month, from which he saved the first year one hundred dollars. His employer was an able, intelligent business man, who owned an establishment consisting of a store, an ashery, a distillery, a grain-mill, and a saw-mill. In this position he daily learned the value of all kinds of commodities, and acquired prompt and accurate methods of doing business. He had constant opportunities to deal with men and women, to study human nature in all its phases, and to weigh the motives which govern human actions. Meanwhile, his leisure was devoted to reading and study. In 1833, Mr. Sessions left his native State and traveled, most of the way on foot, from Detroit to the land-office at White Pigeon, Mich. His route was by the way of Mount Clemens, Romeo, and Pontiac to Farmington. At the latter place he struck the Grand River trail, which crossed the Huron near where Kensington now is, and followed it through the counties of Shiawassee, Clinton, and Ionia to the site of the present city of Ionia. There he found five families, part of them living in unfinished log cabins and the others in Indian wigwams. From Farmington to Ionia his brother and another young man accompanied him. their food was bread and raw pork, their bed the ground in the open air, excepting one frosty night when they slept in a deserted wigwam which they found on the place now occupied by De Witt. In Shiawassee their trail divided, and after some hesitation they took what proved to be the wrong one, for after crossing a small river it entered a dense forest and ended abruptly in an extensive Indian sugar-bush. After retracing their steps they ventured doubtfully forward and reached Ionia. Here they boarded a Frenchman's batteau and floated down the Grand River to Grand Rapids, stopping over-night with Rix Robinson, an Indian trader at the mouth of Thornapple River. They traveled on foot from Grand Rapids, via Gull Prairie, Kalamazoo, and Three Rivers, to White Pigeon, and camped one night on Bull's Prairie, near Thornapple River. They purchased their land and returned to Detroit by the Chicago road. Mr. Sessions spent the ensuing winter in a store in Tuscarawas Co., Ohio. He afterwards taught at Dayton, Ohio, until 1835, when he purchased two horses and started north for Ionia. One day's travel brought him to a densely-timbered wilderness, which he traversed by the aid of blazed trees until he reached Fort Defiance, on the Maumee River. It rained nearly all of the time; the rivers, creeks, and bayous were swollen to overflowing and could be crossed only by swimming the horses. In this primitive way he crossed the Auglaize three times and the Maumee once. From Fort Defiance he traveled down the Maumee, swimming the creeks and bayous until he was opposite Perrysburg, Ohio. There he found an open road free from mud which led through an unoccupied region to Michigan. He passed Ann Arbor, Jackson, and Marshall, which were then scarcely worth the name of villages. at Saline he was joined by his brother, and they proceeded to Ionia. The way from Bellevue on lay through a dense forest and across two rivers. The journey from Dayton to Ionia occupied sixteen days. Mr. Sessions swam his horses through all the streams, crossed numerous swamps and marshes, and once left his horse in the middle of the stream to recover some article which had dropped from the packhorn and floated away. Yet under all these difficulties he and his brother with their horses reached their destination in safety. Mr. Sessions immediately made himself a home on his land in the wilderness. He built the second log cabin in Berlin, Ionia Co., and the first bridges across the small streams between Ionia and Saranac. He married, in August, 1837, Celia, second daughter of Judge Dexter, the pioneer of Ionia County. They have had thirteen children, seven of whom are living. Mr. Sessions was the first supervisor of Cass (now Berlin), and chairman of the first board of supervisors that met in Ionia County. He was one of the first justices of the peace, and held the position several years. He was sheriff of Ionia County. in 1841 and 1842; has since been supervisor eighteen times, and often chairman of the board. His farm, in resources of soil, timber, water, stone, etc. was one of the best in the State. But it was also one of the most difficult to bring under control and cultivation. The amount of labor required was unusual, the results were remote and uncertain; but the work was carried steadily on with courage and confidence, Mr. Sessions directing all and performing much of it with his own hands. He has been able to make the farm support his family, pay all expenses of improvement, and provide something for future use. It has become a good home and a valuable inheritance. Land has been added until it has increased from three hundred and sixty to one thousand acres. Mr. Sessions was elected to the State Legislature in 1856, 1858, and 1860. During his last term of service he was appointed by President Lincoln assessor of internal revenue for the Fourth District of Michigan. He faithfully discharged the duties of the office during four years, when, on his disapproval of President Johnson's "policy," he was removed. Mr. Sessions never did more severe, unpleasant, nor honest work than while in the discharge of his duties as assessor. In order to aid the government to raise funds during the Rebellion, Mr. Sessions and other organized a national bank at Ionia, of which he has been a director since 1863 and president since 1866. He has been president of the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company since 1870. Both institutions have increased in strength and prosperity under his administration. In 1872 he was chosen by the Republicans of Michigan one of the Presidential electors, and by them president of the electoral college. In 1876, without any effort on his part, he was made Lieutenant-Governor by a majority of sixteen thousand, notwithstanding the fact that his opponent, a Democrat, received the Greenback vote. He has never solicited official positions. His ambition has been to discharge faithfully all his duties, and to encourage others to do likewise. He has especially desired to educate his children to be valuable citizens, an honor to himself and the country. Few living men have had more hardships to encounter, greater difficulties to overcome, and less encouragement in their struggle with adverse circumstances; but temptation and trouble have not been able to move him from the path of duty, nor to shake his resolution to act well his part. In 1878 he was renominated in the Republican convention by acclamation and re-elected Lieutenant-Governor for another term of two years. He was an able, impartial, prompt, and faithful presiding officer, secure in the respect and confidence, as well as the kind regard, of every one associated with him. When free from public duties he has always returned to his home and farm, pleased and contented to plan and execute new improvements and better methods, and while reclaiming waste places, making poor land valuable and productive, has been his only amusement, it has enabled him to enjoy life, to enjoy work, to make his home more healthy and more valuable, and, more than all, to influence others to imitate his example, so far as it is worthy of imitation, whether he is living or dead. Mr. Sessions is now in his seventy-first year, strong and healthy, and daily doing the work of a stout, vigorous man. * From "Representative Men of Michigan." This biography is taken from "HISTORY OF IONIA AND MONTCALM COUNTIES, MICHIGAN" by John S. Schenck. Philadelphia: D. W. Ensign & Co., 1881. Pages 188-189. Berlin.