GOODSPEED BIOGRAPHIES
Contributed by Charlene Holland
Rev. ROBERT E. SESSIONS
Rev. Robert E. Sessions. This name is synonymous in Scott County, Ark., with successful agriculture, and throughout the immediate section in which he lives he is especially well known. He was born in this State, in what is now Bradley County, January 14, 1850, and is a son of James A. and Lucinda (Loa) Sessions, the former born in Alabama and the latter in Tennessee, their marriage taking place in Mountain Township, of this county. James A. Sessions, when a young man of eighteen years, left his parents in Georgia, to which State they had moved from Alabama to come to Arkansas as agent to the Creek Indians, receiving his appointment from the President of the United States. At the end of five years he began devoting his attention to teaching school and to selling goods in Fort Smith, and while in this place acted as interpreter, being well acquainted with the Creek, Choctaw and Cherokee languages. He was a man of brilliant mind, highly gifted, and in his youth had the advantages of an excellent education. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, socially was a member of the I.O.O.F., and shortly before the opening of the Rebellion he was called from earth, being then but in the prime of life. His widow died in Scott County, Ark., in 1861, also an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, she having borne her husband five children: Eliza J. (wife of David Osmus, a farmer and primitive Baptist minister of Scott County, Ark.), Permelia Ann (wife of J. H. Blackwell, a farmer of this county), Rev. Robert E., J.F. (a merchant and also a Free-Will Baptist minister), and Sarah (wife of Compton Hollis, a farmer residing near Boles, Ark.). Rev. Robert E. Sessions made his home with different families during the war, and during that time attended school a little. After the war he worked on a farm, and in 1880 homesteaded land to the amount of 160 acres in Mountain Township, and has been buying and selling land ever since, being now the owner of 150 acres at the head of Ross Creek, a considerable portion of which is under cultivation. In connection with this he has been operating a cotton gin for the past seven years, and since March 1889, he has been the owner of a good gin, grist, saw and shingle mill. Commencing life with no advantages whatever he has done exceedingly well, has educated his children, and has done as much, if not more, than any of his neighbors for worthy enterprises. He has been an earnest church member for twenty-one years, and in 1881 was ordained a minister of the Free-Will Baptist Church, soon after being made pastor of Shiloh Church in Blansett Township. He has so filled the same position in Mount Pisgah Church at Boles, Haw Creek Church, New Hope Church, Mount Pisgah No. 2, and assisted in organizing a church northeast of Waldron, known as the Davis Church. He was married on August 12, 1888, to Miss Elizabeth Wammack of Scott County, by whom he has become the father of nine children: John A., James W., Armatha Bell, Mary Frances, Harriet Dealtha, Robert F., Fred and Thomas. Elmer died in infancy. Mrs. Sessions is a member of the Free Will Baptist Church, and has given much assistance to her husband in his work of saving souls. Mr. Sessions belongs to the Farmer's Alliance, and is a stanch Republican in politics. [CH note: It has been found that Lucinda Loa probably was Lucinda Ivey/Ivy.]