Lea Sessions' Family History

Background Information

The key information obtained so far has been derived from an old Family Bible held by George William Sessions, Lea's father. Inside the front cover it contains information on the family of James William and Martha Sessions (née Norman), while inside the back cover it contains information on the family of William and Martha Norman (née Brett). This information has been supplemented by family recollections and some research through the International Genealogical Index. The information extracted from the IGI still has to be validated, but it has provided a useful step one generation back from the Family Bible. More recently, contact has been made with other members of the family which has enabled many other branches of the Sessions Family to be documented.

Genealogy Table

Family History - the story so far…

Very little is known of the earlier generations of the family at this stage. William George Sessions ran a garage at Brentwood, Essex in the 1920s. A copy of "A New Road Map of England & Wales and South Scotland" published by him has been retained. In the 1930's William became a hotel keeper, first at Brighton and then at Babbicombe.

George William Sessions was born in Brentwood and moved around with his family. He served with the East Surrey Regiment in the 1940's and subsequently migrated to South Africa, where his sister Audrey was living. In 1969 he brought his family to Australia, where they now live.

Ivor Sessions is understood to have migrated to Australia with his father when he was a young boy.

Other Sessions Families

An article (source unknown) entitled "The End of an Era The Sessions Clock Company" has been located. The article is some 10 or 11 pages long and describes the history of the Sessions Clock Company in Connecticut, USA. The company was founded by John Humphrey Sessions (1828-99), the son of Calvin Sessions of Burlington, Conn. The article contains photographs of William Edwin Sessions and the clock factory. Associated with this article is four pages from a Sessions Clock Catalogue, which may be from the same source.

Researching the Sessions name in various libraries has turned up a number of "potted" biographies, mostly of American origin. There was one English entry, that of Walter Sessions, born in Gloucester and son of Fredrick Sessions. He was Managing Director of English China Clays Ltd of St Austell and Chairman of Sessions and Sons Ltd of Gloucester, Cardiff and Newport. There were no dates mentioned in the entry, but it was published in the 1925 edition of "Who's Who".

One of the American entries, that of Henry Howard Sessions in the Dictionary of American Biography (Volume XVI, 1935), provides an interesting reference. Henry Sessions was "a railroad car builder and inventor…...son of Milton and Rosanna (Beals) Sessions……was of English ancestry, a descendant of John Sessions, who emigrated to Connecticut in 1768": The reference for this material is given as: "F.C. Sessions, "Materials for a History of the Sessions Family".

A book on the Sessions Family

There is a book by Francis C. Sessions entitled "Materials for a History of the Sessions Family in America, the Descendants of Alexander Sessions of Andover, Massachusetts, 1669" published in 1890, which is now available on a CD-ROM. It provides an interesting insight into life in the USA in the 1700s and 1800s.

If you are related to any of the people mentioned above, or would like further information, please send me an Email to pgamble AT ozemail DOT com DOT au

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Copyright © 1997-2009 Peter Gamble. Last updated: 9 August 2009.