Ohio History Journal

292        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.    [VoL. 4

FRANCIS CHARLES SESSIONS.*

BY WASHINGTON GLADDEN, D. D., LL. D.

Blessed are they that dwell in thy house;

They will be still praising thee.

Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;

In whose heart are the highways to Zion.

Passing through the Valley of Weeping they make

it a place of springs;

Yea the early rain covereth it with blessings;

They go from strength to strength;

Every one of them appeareth before God in Zion.

- Ps. lxxxiv, 4 -7.

This poet has found a happy man. Such men are not rare;

even in these unquiet times it is not needful to search for them

by day with lanterns. Yet it may well be questioned whether in

the days when cares were fewer and life was simpler, there were

not more who took time to be happy--more who found out,

before it was too late, that it was worth while to be happy.

This poet's happy man was one who spent his life in the

Lord's house. Possibly the poet was some dweller on the slopes

of distant Hermon, or among the vales of rugged Gilead, who

only two or three times a year was permitted to stand in the

portals of the Lord's house. From the time of the establish-

ment of the one central sanctuary at Jerusalem, the hearts of the

people turned with increasing attachment to its stately courts

* Mr. Sessions was elected First Vice President of Ohio Archaeological

and Historical Society at its annual meeting February 18, 1886. At its

annual meeting February 24, 1887, he was chosen President, succeeding

the Hon. Allen G. Thurman, the society's distinguished first president.

Mr. Sessions held the office of president continuously till his death March

25, 1892. He discharged the duties of his position with great zeal and

ability. He was ever ready, by his counsel, his means and his influence,

to advance the interests of the society and to his generous and enthusiastic

efforts are largely due the growth and prosperity of the organization. The

memorial address herewith published was delivered by Dr. Gladden in the

First Congregational Church of which Mr. Sessions was a most active

member.                                              E. 0. R.

Francis Charles Sessions.           293

and its solemn services; the temple held within itself the con-

summation of their hopes, and the expression of their highest

thoughts; it was the memorial of their life in the desert, and of

their deliverance from Egypt; it was the symbol of all that made

their national life memorable and sublime; it was the place

where was manifested to them with peculiar power the presence

and the glory of the God of their fathers. All the religious

enthusiasm of this deeply religious people was focussed upon

these hills of Zion. This was the only place where sacrifices

could be offered; the only place where the solemn ritual of their

worship could be performed. It was a thrilling moment when

the boy, coming up to one of the feasts, first set his foot within

these sacred enclosures; and the time never came in the life of

the loyal Hebrew when his heart did not turn with longing to

the house of the Lord. Going to church is a very commonplace

matter with us who have from one to a dozen church spires

almost always in sight. It was a very different thing to the

Hebrew who dwelt in some remote town of Palestine, and to

whom the one Holy City with its one temple was only now and

then the goal of a long pilgrimage. Such an one might natur-

ally think the man to be happy who could spend his life within

sight of its pillared porches and its golden pinnacle. And this

poet seems also to have learned that there was something in the

influences of that house which gave to life added cheerfulness

and benignity. The men who found their inspiration in its wor-

ship were men who made the world in which they lived a happier

world. " Passing through the valley of weeping," he cries, "they

make it a place of springs." The meaning is somewhat obscure,

but he seems to say that the good man, whose delight is in

the service of the house of God, is one who helps turn the vale

of tears into a place of fountains-into a genial region where

joy springs forth unstinted and perennial. That, surely, is the

scriptural conception of the man whose life is fed from the

eternal hills. The Old Testament saints and prophets never lose

their hold upon this thought. The notion of some modern

religionists that the godly man is one who makes himself and

his neighbors as doleful as he can while he lives-who goes

about singing,

294       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

"I'm but a stranger here,

Heaven is my home;

Earth is a desert drear,

Heaven is my home"-

and spends all his energies in getting people ready for life in

some other world-never entered the heads of the men who

wrote the Psalms and Prophecies. To them the chief function

of the godly man was to make a better world of this. They

tested his piety by proofs of his power to brighten the acres that

surrounded his dwelling, and to send forth the streams of his

bounty "to fatten lower lands;" it was a sign that he was a

saint, if the wilderness and the solitary place were glad for him

and the desert, where the feet touched its arid waste, rejoiced

and blossomed as the rose.

If all the people who think that the Old Testament is obso-

lete would get some of these ruling ideas of the Old Testament

revelation into their heads, this would soon be a better world for

all of us.

It has been my duty to-night to speak of a happy life which

has just ended. It is not an easy task to speak fittingly and

adequately of any man's life. There are very few people whom

we know well enough to be able to judge them justly. We are

not omniscient, and our reading of other men's motives is often

at fault. Most of us are swift enough to form and utter our

estimates of other men's characters; very often in doing so, we

only reveal our own. "Judge not that ye be not judged," is a

maxim of tremendous import. How often a man, in pronoun-

cing judgment upon his neighbor, lays bare his own narrowness,

meanness, jealousy, pusillanimity. What he has said about his

neighbor does his neighbor no harm at all, for nobody heeds it;

but it does him far more damage than any slander that other lips

could utter about him. Wise men are therefore slow to judge

their fellows. Yet, since the life is always the light of men, the

study of human lives is always the most inspiring of studies,

and our study must involve some estimate of the qualities

revealed in the lives that we are studying. that I must attempt

tonight. I would fain speak truthfully and temperately. I de-

sire to avoid over-praise. I would rather that my words should

Francis Charles Sessions.           295

seem to you an under-statement than an over-statement. It

is true that I cannot pretend to be a cool, impartial critic. The

man of whom I speak was my friend-one of the best friends I

ever had. I cannot promise that the pulsations of my heart will

not be audible in these words. Nevertheless, because I loved

him, I will try to avoid doing him the injustice of exaggerating

his virtues. He was not a perfect man. I know no such man.

He had his faults and weaknesses. To these we who loved and

honored him were not blind. But I am not here to exhibit the

defects in his character. I shall try to keep within the truth in

what I say, but I am not going to try to tell the whole truth.

Some things can be taken for granted by all judicious listeners.

To tell the whole truth you know about any man whom you

know well, living or dead, would be an outrage. I think my

friend could bear the exposure better than most men; but no

interest, whether of art or history, makes any such demand.

Mr. Sessions was a New Englander of purest stock. There

was not, so far as I can trace his lineage, a drop of blood in his

veins that came across the ocean later than 1700. There are

indications that his race was a sturdy race. A great great uncle

of Mr. Sessions was Governor of Rhode Island; in all parts of

the country we find them men of substance and character. Of

one of them, John by name, who was a deacon in the Congre-

gational Church in Westminster, Vermont, and a man of some

eminence in the neighborhood, the following incident is related:

"In a time when provision was very scarce in that section of

the country, when they had little to eat but potatoes and salt,

the good deacon saw a deer come out of the woods near his

house, late one Sunday afternoon; he seized his gun and shot

the deer. For this the church brought him up for discipline.

He pleaded that it was a work of necessity and of mercy, and

that he was justified in killing this game, so providentially

brought within reach of his trusty gun, even if it was before

sunset on Sunday. The church, however, instructed the pastor

to read the sentence of excommunication on the following Sab-

bath. The deacon was asked to rise in his pew while the sen-

tence was read, severing his relation to the church for Sabbath

breaking. He arose, and as the pastor was about to read, reach-

296       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 4

ing behind him he took his gun which he had carried to the

meeting-house, leveled it at the minister's head, and in the most

determined tone said, .' I forbid that paper being read from the

pulpit.' The pastor quietly remarked: 'All things are lawful for

me, but all things are not expedient, and I do not think it expe-

dient to read this paper.' The deacon not only lived but died a

member and deacon of the church."*

The first American ancestor of this family, Samuel Sessions,

came with Governor Winthrop and Deputy Governor Dudley to

Massachusetts Bay in 1630, ten years after the landing of the

Pilgrims. It would appear that a son of this Samuel, by name

Alexander, was born in the ancient town of Andover, Mass.,

about 1645; his name frequently appeared upon the records of

Andover church and Andover town. In April 24, 1672, an entry

is made of the marriage of Alexander Sessions and Elizabeth

Spofford. To this pair were born seven sons, the fifth of whom

was Nathaniel. His birth year was 1681, and in 1704 he removed

to Pomfret, Connecticut, where he lived to a great age, a thrifty

and highly respectable Yankee farmer. The second or third

child of Nathaniel was Amasa, born in 1720; and the fifth child

of Amasa was Robert, born in 1752. In 1773, therefore, Robert

became, as the New Englanders say, his own man, and found

his way to Boston where he was employed as a common laborer

by a lumber merchant whose name was Davis. This was the

summer of the famous "High Tea" in Boston Harbor, a festivity

in which young Robert Sessions participated. A town meeting

had been deliberating all day upon the question of evading the

tea tax-and just at evening the citizens came forth from their

fruitless debate to behold a procession of what seemed to be

Mohawk Indians marching toward the wharf where the tea-laden

vessel was moored. The rest of the story may well be told in

the graphic words of Mr. Robert Sessions, contributed years

after to a little volume entitled "Tea Leaves."

"On that eventful evening when Mr. Davis came in from

the town meeting I asked him what was to be done with the tea.

They are now throwing it overboard,' he replied. Receiving

*" Sessions Family in America," p. 241.

Francis Charles Sessions.            297

permission, I went immediately to the spot. Everything was as

light as day by the means of lamps and torches; a pin might

have been seen lying on the wharf.

"I went on board where they were at work and took hold

with my own hands. I was not one of those appointed to

destroy the tea, and who disguised themselves as Indians, but

was a volunteer, the disguised men being largely men of family

and position in Boston, while I was a young man whose home

and relations were in Connecticut. The appointed and disguised

party proving too small for the quick work necessary, other

young men, similarly circumstanced with myself, joined them in

their labors.

"The chests were drawn up by a tackle, one man bringing

them forward, another putting a rope around them, and others

hoisting them to the deck and carrying them to the vessel's side.

The chests were then opened, the tea emptied over the side, and

the chests thrown overboard. Perfect regularity prevailed during

the whole transaction. Although there were many people on

the wharf, entire silence prevailed--no clamor, no talking.

Nothing was meddled with but the teas on board. After having

emptied the whole the deck was swept clean, and everything put

in its proper place. An officer on board was requested to come

up from the cabin and see that no damage was done, except to

the tea.

"At about the close of the scene a man was discovered

making his way through the crowd with his pockets filled with

tea. He was immedately laid hold of and his coat skirts torn

off with their pockets and thrown into the dock with the rest of

the tea.

"I was obliged to leave the town at once as it was of course

known that I was concerned in the affair."

We have in these unstudied sentences a very neat bit of

historical description. How perfectly the moral perspective is

drawn.   These counterfeit Mohawks-how     far were they

removed from savagery! What a touch is that which shows

them sweeping up the deck, putting things to right, and calling

the officer to bear witness that no injury had been done to vessel

or cargo! And what swift retribution for the man making off

298       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

with his pockets full of tea! No Achans in the camp of these

true Israelites! We must thank Mr. Robert Sessions for a

realistic sketch which reveals to us most strikingly the spirit of

the American revolution.

It is a modest testimony. We can easily understand why

the young lumberman's intimacy with the best society of Boston

was so very brief. Boston was not any longer a healthy place

for him. He seems to have made his way back to Connecticut,

and to have found a musket to shoulder soon after the fight at

Lexington; he came out of the war with the rank of Lieutenant,

found his home after his marriage in 1788, in South Wilbraham,

Mass., and there as Justice of the Peace, Treasurer and Clerk of

the town, Representative for five years in the Legislature at

Boston (where it had finally become safe for him to reside), and

as the frequently chosen moderator of the town meeting, he

enjoyed and justified the respect and confidence of his townsmen

to the ripe old age of eighty-four.

Robert was the grandfather of our friend and neighbor. The

grandfather lived until the grandson was sixteen years of age;

the story of the war must have been often rehearsed before the

open fire on winter evenings, and the full tide of patriotic senti-

ment thus flowed steadily into the heart of the boy in his most

impressible years.

The seventh son of Robert was Francis, born in 1792. In

1818, he was married to Sophronia Metcalf, a descendant of one

of the stanchest Connecticut families, and Francis Charles Ses-

sions, born in South Wilbraham, February 27, 1820, was their

only child. The father died when the boy was only two years

old, when a home was found for him in the family of his uncle

Robert, a farmer near South Wilbraham.

The district school gave him the rudiments of an education;

there was a plan of fitting him for the ministry, but it was believed

that his health was hardly firm enough to endure a full college

course, so he was sent to Monson Academy, one of those excel-

lent secondary schools which once abounded in New England,

where youth obtained an education not inferior to that given in

many of our so-called universities of the present day. It was a

school in which Richard S. Storrs became a teacher immediately

Francis Charles Sessions.             299

after his graduation from college. I think that Mr. Sessions was

a pupil of Dr. Storrs; at any rate their acquaintance began at the

time when the latter was connected with the institution. Mr.

Sessions graduated from the Academy at the age of eighteen; for

the next two years he lived in the neighborhood of his old home;

for a short time he was in business in Springfield, the county-

seat; then the star of empire cast its spell upon him, and in

1840, in the very heat of the Tippecanoe campaign, by stage-

coach and canal-boat, he made the tedious journey to the Buck-

eye State and landed here in Columbus, in the month of October.

"At this date Columbus was a straggling, bustling town of

about six thousand inhabitants. The town centered about a

large central square, in the southwest corner of which stood the

capitol buildings and the State offices. North of what is now

Spring street, east of Fourth street, south of the county build-

ings, could hardly be found a business house; while dwellings

were far apart and in many places not to be seen. On the west

was the Scioto river, on whose banks in the southwestern part

of town were many warehouses and docks, for at that time her

shipping trade was a considerable factor in her growth. Up the

river, on its opposite bank, about a mile to the northwest, lay

the village of Franklinton, now a part of the city. Its age dates

back to 1797, and in its day it was the county town, and the

chief place of importance in the Scioto valley north of Circle-

ville." *

The directory for 1843 credits Columbus with thirteen con-

gregations of worshippers, two of which were of blacks; with

six small subscription schools, fifteen free schools, enrolling

seven hundred scholars, one respectable academy for males and

females, and a German Theological Seminary-probably the

seed from which our Capital University has grown. It reckons

up twenty-four dry goods stores, eight groceries, forty provision

stores, two hardware stores, two drug stores, two book stores,

two shoe stores, two iron stores, "seventeen licensed taverns

where a little wet can be had," twenty lawyers and twenty-one

doctors, including three or four dentists.

* From a sketch by Mr. A. A. Graham in the Magazine of Western

History, Vol. 4, p. 105.

300       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

Such were the dimensions and the pretentious of the capital

of Ohio, when this Yankee boy of twenty first set his feet upon

its soil. Doubtless it was a crude, unshapely western town, with

very little style about it, and giving small promise of the stately

city of to-day. There was no railroad here-the Mad River

Railroad, the first in the state, from Dayton to Sandusky, work

upon which was actively begun in 1835, must have been com-

pleted about this time. The changes which have taken place in

this municipality in the course of the active life of this one cit-

izen, while not so startling as those which have been witnessed

in many American cities, have been quite notable. In the course

of the fifty-two years, Mr. Sessions saw Columbus double its

population four times; it was sixteen times as large when he saw

it last as when he saw it first; all the great public buildings

which are now its decoration, have been erected since he came;

the sprawling town which hugged the bank of the Scioto has

stretched its trim pavements east and west and north and south,

covering thousands of acres of this fertile valley with the

symbols of thrift and enterprise; the two turnpikes which were

then the arteries of traffic, by which it communicated with the

west and the north-the National Road to Wheeling and the

road to Sandusky-have given place to thirteen railways; and

the volume of its business has increased, I suppose, in a far

more rapid rate than the growth of its population.

An uncle of Mr. Sessions, Mr. Rodney Comstock, was re-

siding in Worthington; this was the attraction by which his

steps were turned to this valley; he came first upon a visit, but

was persuaded by his relatives to remain and cast in his lot with

the fortunes of this young city. Doubtless he had faith in its

future, and saw that here was a town of which something could

be made. I shall not be disputed if I say that he has had an im-

portant part in the development of our municipal life. I do not

claim that Columbus is the handsomest or the most virtuous city

in the country; "let another praise thee, and not thine own

mouth;" but it is safe to say that for whatever of comeliness or

of character it possesses, not a little is due to the taste and enter-

prise and public spirit of our friend. This much I will venture

to claim for him, that very few of our citizens have been more

Francis Charles Sessions.            301

amply endowed with municipal pride and patriotism. There

was not a man among us to whom the honor and the welfare of

Columbus were more dear. You never saw him walking along

the streets without feeling that he was taking in all the beauty

of it with his quick comprehensive glance; every improvement,

every adornment, every sign of the prosperity of his neighbors

gave him unmixed satisfaction.  Mr. Sessions had traveled

widely-more widely than most of us; he had seen the best part

of the world-not the largest part--and he always came home

from his wanderings with new love for this city and a deeper

interest in its welfare. He was ready, I believe, to do what he

could to make it a safer, a better and a brighter place to live in.

This has always been his spirit during the fifty-two years of his

residence. Some good portion of his thought and life has been

given for more than half a century to the upbuilding of this city

in all things pure and fair.

On his arrival he soon found employment in one of the

leading dry goods stores, and within three years had a store of

his own-under the firm name of Ellis, Sessions & Co., upon

the ground where Mr. Westwater's crockery store now stands.

Four years afterward, in August, 1847, the young dry goods

merchant made for himself a home in the city, bringing from

Worthington, Mary, daughter of Orange Johnson, to share with

him its joys. Very desolate is that home to-day, but the sorrow

that has turned its joy into mourning, is one with which in this

public place we have no right to intermeddle.

Nine years after his marriage, in 1856, the year of the

Fremont campaign, Mr. Sessions disposed of his interest in the

dry goods store and began trading in wool. This was his occu-

pation until 1869, when the Commercial National bank was

organized, and he was placed in the responsible position which he

occupied until his death.

The career of Mr. Sessions as a business man has been

honorable and successful. He was not a daring operator, by

temperament he was cautious, and his gains have been moderate;

but I hear no skepticism as to the legitimacy of his methods

or the cleanness of his accumulations. I believe that he has

striven to be just and honest in all his dealings. More than this,

302       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

if I may credit the many testimonies that have been uttered in

my hearing within the last week by reputable persons, he has

made his business tributary to the prosperity of many others, ex-

hibiting a large and generous trust in young men; giving finan-

cial aid to many who had not much security to offer except their

character; thinking, very often, in his business transactions, not

only of the gains that he could make for himself, but of the

service that he could render to others. The testimony that has

come to me from business men whom he aided in this way, when

they were first setting out in business is abundant and gratifying.

I believe that Mr. Sessions found pleasure in rendering services

of this kind; and the success of those whom he helped to set

upon their feet was a constant gratification to him.

I do not find that he ever held a political office. He was a

trustee of the Institution for the Blind and of the Institution

for the Deaf and Dumb; on both these boards he rendered the

state gratuitous and efficient service. Officers connected with

these institutions bear cordial testimony to his painstaking

labors.

When the war broke out, the grandson of Robert Sessions

found a patriotic opportunity. The pulpit of the Congregational

church was very bold, about that time, in its utterances. It was

not then considered good form, hereabouts, for ministers to

speak strongly on public questions; indeed it was not at all

prudent to do so; this pulpit has never been a very prudent one,

I fear. The man who occupied it then, Edward P. Goodwin,

was not a coward, and the trumpet that he put to his lips gave

no uncertain sound. Mr. Sessions has often spoken to me with

pride of the position which the church took in those days; the

closer it kept to the front in every patriotic movement the better

he liked it. When the Sanitary Commission was organized,

he became the secretary of the Columbus branch, and his serv-

ice in that arduous position is remembered by those who were

living at that day. Dr. J. S. Newberry; who had the charge of

the western branch, in his report, at the close of the war, upon

the work of the Commission, makes frequent and grateful

reference to the work of Mr. Sessions.

Says Dr. Newberry: "Mr. Sessions was one of the earliest

Francis Charles Sessions.            303

volunteers who took the field to minister to the wants of the

sick and suffering in the army. He accompanied us on the

Allen Collier in our memorable trip to Fort Donelson, and went

to Pittsburgh Landing immediately after the battle, where he

was connected with the great work accomplished in the care of

the sick and wounded during the spring and early summer of

1862. He also went with Dr. Smith to Murfreesboro upon the

occasion of the battle of Stone River, visited Virginia during the

second campaign in that State, as well as most other important

points in our field of operation, always as an earnest, hard-

working Good Samaritan."

A Soldiers' Home was established in this city, during the

early days of the war, in which during its existence no less than

25,649 different soldiers were entertained-to whom were fur-

nished 34,982 lodgings and 99,863 meals. Of this Dr. Newberry

testifies: "The establishment and success of the Columbus

home was in a large degree due to the efforts of Mr. F. C.

Sessions, a member of the Columbus branch of the Sanitary

Commission, a gentleman who was one of the earliest volunteers

in the cause of humanity called out by the war, and who, during

its entire continuance, by his labors on battlefields, in camps and

hospitals, while he sacrificed his personal interests and his health,

won for himself the respect and admiration of all who knew him.

"His name frequently appears on the records of the work

of the Sanitary Commission at the West, in which, though an

unpaid member, he was a most earnest and faithful worker, and

it is probable there are few to whom this imperfect tribute will

convey any new impression in regard to the value of the services

which he rendered to the cause of the country and humanity

during the war.

"Throughout the existence of the home at Columbus, Mr.

Sessions gave it his constant supervision, and he was, in fact, its

outside superintendent and manager."

Such service as this, rendered to the country at great sacri-

fice, often with great peril, but without bounty and without

remuneration of any kind, was not rare in those days; but it is

probable that few men in this community gave a larger measure

of it than Francis C. Sessions. I never heard him boast of it; I

304       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

am sure that he gave it heartily, with no thought that he

deserved any praise; with the feeling that he was simply paying

in part that debt of love which every patriot owes to his native

land.

Mr. Sessions has been a constant helper in our local philan-

thropies. He was President for a time of our Humane Society;

he was a trustee of the Home for the Friendless; he has always

been one of those to whom every charitable enterprise made its

first and most confident appeal.

As a lover of sweetness and light we owe much to him.

Fair culture, sound learning found in him a friend. He was a

trustee, at the time of his death, of Marietta College and of

Oberlin College; he had been, I believe, a trustee of Wilberforce

University, the institution at Xenia, for the education of colored

students. In all these institutions he was a wise counselor; he

gave much time and thought very freely to their interests.

Although his early associations had afforded him few oppor-

tunities of cultivating his tastes for literature and art, these

humanities took a strong hold upon his mind, and every year

revealed an increasing interest in them. He was a lover of good

books, and he read many of them. Few active business men

give so much time to this elevating and refining occupation.

Reading was something more than pastime with him; he read

for the knowledge that gives power; for truth that should guide

his judgment and ripen his intellect. And by his reading he

gained for himself some good facility in expression, and came to

cherish a laudable ambition to make books as well as to read

them. Those which he has left us-the records of his travel-

show us the keen observer and the interested student of men and

things. The critic of Harper's Monthly says of the first of these

volumes, that "it is such as we might expect from almost any

of our clear-headed and sensible men of business, writing for

the entertainment of friends at home. Lively, concise, straight-

forward, touching lightly but intelligently upon a multiplicity

of topics, without falling into sentimentality on the one hand or

lapsing into prosaic literature on the other; it is an unaffected,

agreeable record of travel." Mr. Sessions found great pleasure

in these literary diversions; I am sure that they were much less

Francis Charles Sessions.            305

questionable amusements than those upon which hard working

men sometimes employ their leisure.

To art as well as to letters, this business man paid graceful

homage. He was a constant patron of the Art Association of

this city; to his active interest and substantial aid it has been

largely indebted. His home bears testimony to his enthusiastic

love of good art. I suppose that no other house in the city con-

tains so large and valuable a collection of pictures. Any artist

or critic, knowing the environment of our friend during all his

early years, and realizing that he had never had any artistic

training, would think it remarkable that a man with money, let

loose in the galleries and studios of two continents, should have

made so choice a selection, It will be freely acknowledged that

Mr. Sessions has helped to cultivate in Columbus a taste for

refined pleasures, a love of the beautiful.

I have no time this evening to tell the story of the services

of Mr. Sessions to this church, and to the cause of religion in

this city.  I risk nothing in saying that this was the deepest

interest of his life. In nothing else was his heart and mind and

soul and strength so thoroughly enlisted as in the work of build-

ing here in the world the kingdom of heaven.

Mr. Sessions became a member of the church in his Massa-

chusetts home, before he came to Columbus. Here he first con-

nected himself with the Second Presbyterian Church, then under

the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Hitchcock; from that church he

came forth, with a colony of forty-two, to form the Third Pres-

byterian Church, whose local habitation was a small building on

Third street, near Gay. That church in a very short time deter-

mined to change its organization, and in 1852 became the First

Congregational Church, at the same time securing the ground on

Broad street where this church now stands, and beginning imme-

diately to gather the necessary funds for the erection of this

building; for the ample walls, within which we are now assem-

bled, are the walls of the building erected in 1856 by this young

church. It was a bold undertaking; faith and courage and self-

denial were in the hearts of the men and women who conceived

it. Mr. Sessions would not wish me to give him all the credit

of it; others stood with him who are just as worthy of praise;

Vol. IV-20

306       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VoL. 4

most of them, alas! are now fallen asleep; but none of them,

if they were here, would permit me to withhold from him a.

liberal share of the honor that belongs to this heroic enterprise.

From that hour his devotion to this church has been steady and

unfaltering. In bright days his face has reflected the gladness

of its assemblies; in dark days its burdens have lain heavily

upon his heart. At the beginning there were some who stood

shoulder to shoulder with him, bearing an equal part in its labors

and responsibilities; but as the days passed by, and the strongest

of these helpers were called away, the load rested more and more

upon him and he never sought to be relieved of it; indeed, he

seemed to carry it a little more lightly year by year. He has

held nearly all the positions of responsibility in the organization;

he has contributed of his substance for its support with an

almost unexampled liberality. But he has given something far

better than that-he has given himself-time, care, thought,

labor, love-freely, constantly, joyfully.

The social life of the church owes everything to him. I am

keeping far within the truth when I say that he has done more

than anyone else to make it a real brotherhood. I dare say that

half of the members of this church would testify that he was

the first one who greeted them, when they came into the congre-

gation-that he and his good wife were the first persons from

the church who called upon them in their home. He was always

seeking the things that make for peace; explaining little mis-

understandings, quieting little disturbances, pouring oil on the

troubled waters. The almost absolute freedom of this church

from dissensions is due very largely, under God, to the tact and

good nature of Francis Sessions.

All the other Congregational Churches of this city have the

same testimony to bear. Every one of them was a child of his.

love and his care; they have all shared his bounty; the knowl-

edge of his friendship has been a support and an inspiration to

them all  Nor was his sympathy limited to the churches of his

own denomination. I doubt whether any churches have been

built in this city during the last twenty-five years to whose erec-

tion he has not contributed. He was, no doubt, a pretty loyal

Congregationalist; but it was not the peculiarities of Congrega-

Francis Charles Sessions.           307

tionalism that he cared for most; it was rather its freedom from

peculiararities, its breadth and liberty and catholicity. It was

because he thought it the nearest of the sects to a simple Chris-

tianity-a Christianity with no improvements or attachments,

ancient or modern -that he rejoiced in it and wanted to do what

he could to plant it and scatter it.

Mr. Sessions was reared among the straitest of the New

England Calvinists, and the rigidity and severity of that old

creed were a burden to his youthful soul. He often told us, in

later years, how his heart rebelled against that hard doctrine.

And when more light broke out of God's holy Word -when

under the courageous testimony of men like Lyman Beecher and

Albert Barnes and Edwards Park and Horace Bushnell and

Thomas T. Munger and James A. Briggs and Lyman Abbott,

one stronghold after another of the ancient fatalism was razed

and abandoned and the church was steadily led out and on to a

simpler faith and a broader love and a larger hope, Mr. Sessions

was always ready for new light and brave leading; he was at the

front with the foremost Christian thinkers; he saw in the move-

ments that have terrified many the signs of the increasing pres-

ence of the kingdom for whose coming we daily pray. Yet he

never relaxed his hold-rather was it daily strengthened-upon

the great realities of the gospel of Christ; his loyalty to the

Master and his trust in His leadership were steadfast to the end.

I have one word more to say respecting Mr. Sessions, but it is

the best word of all. As a business man, a patriot, a philanthro-

pist, a lover of sweetness and light, and a loyal helper of Christ's

church, he has earned the respect of all, and the gratitude of

many; but we shall think of him most often and most tenderly

in the character of friend. Whatever else he failed in, he did

not fail in friendship. In some arts he may have lacked skill,

but he knew how to be a friend. I doubt whether any other

man in Columbus knew as many people as he did, or cared for as

many. In this he was eminent above all the men I have known;

he entered by a genuine sympathy into more lives; he made

himself at home in more hearts; he drew to himself the confi-

fidence and gratitude of more people than any other person

whom it has been my fortune to know intimately. If that is

308       Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.  [VOL. 4

eulogy make the most of it, for it is the truth. People of all

ranks and grades and colors-most of them, however, the un-

fortunate and the lowly, knew him for their friend, came to him

for counsel, felt free to tell him their joys as well as their sor-

rows. There were many who sought material assistance from

him, and sought it not in vain. Many a self-respecting family,

in the pinch of want, has found him compassionate. The num-

ber and extent of such secret benefactions, as I am told by those

who have been his confidential assistants, have been very large.

Of course many have gone to him upon such errands and have

failed to obtain what they sought-that might go without saying.

To the doors of a man with his reputation of charity the pro-

cession of solicitors is perennial. It was physically impossible

for him to relieve all who came. It was probably impossible for

him to grant relief to half of the worthy persons who appealed

to him. And it is very likely that some who were turned away

went with very cynical remarks about this man's benevolence.

Nevertheless, the books at the great accounting will show these

cynics that their judgment was unjust.

It was not, however, by his almsdeeds alone or mainly that

he made friends. Scores and hundreds of those who loved him

best never sought a favor of this kind at his hands, or dreamed

of seeking. He was their friend by a better title than this; he

had given them, not money, but his thought, his care, his

sympathy, himself-he had shown a friendly interest in their

concerns; he knew about them, and he did not forget them,

when they met him in the street his greetings and his inquiries

showed that they really had a place in his life.

This was no affectation or pretense, it was a genuine human

interest. Good will and kindness toward all these people were

in his heart, and it was out of the abundance of his heart that

his mouth spoke. And the tone of his speech was full of cheer.

The voice rang out heartily-no whine, no drawl, no solemn

monotone; its clear tenor accents vibrated with warmth and

sometimes quivered with suppressed intensity. It carried its

message straight home to your heart; you could not miss its

meaning. Instances of his hearty cordiality and of its lasting

fruits have come to me within the last few days. I will mention

Francis Charles Sessions.            309

but one of them. Thirty years ago, perhaps, one who was then

a mere lad but is now a leading man of business in this city,

stood weeping outside the door of the house which until

that day had been his home, but which had just been sold at

sheriff's sale. Mr. Sessions was there and he made his way

to the lad and spoke to him. "I shall never forget it," is his

testimony, "I shall never forget how kind he was; he helped

the boy to bear his burden."

"Speak kindly ! 'tis a little thing

Dropped in the heart's deep well;

The good, the joy that it may bring

Eternity can tell."

I dare say that there are some to whom all this seems very

commonplace. I am quite content that they should think so.

I told you that I should not make any extravagant claims for

my friend; surely this is a homely wreath that I have woven for

him out of the grateful memories of very common people; no

one will grudge it to him. All is summed up in saying that he

entered, as a friend; into the confidence and affection of more

men and women and children than any other man whom I have

known. And I think, after all, that because I love him, I would

rather be able to say just that about him than to utter any other

tribute that my thought can frame.

Is there not a close similarity between this life that we have

been studying and the life of that man of whom the Hebrew

poet was singing? This, too, was a happy man. I have known

few who were happier. The good cheer, the exuberance of

spirit, the breezy heartiness, were contagious. I have gone to

him sometimes rather worn and dispirited; I always came away

refreshed and hopeful.

And this happy man of ours; like the psalmist's happy man,

was surely one to whom the house of the Lord was the dearest

place in the world. In his heart were the highways to Zion.

And not less surely was he one of those who make this a

brighter world by their presence in it; the vale of tears becomes,

as they tread its lonely paths, a place of sparkling waters-a

valley of pure delight.

310        Ohio Arch. and His. Society Publications.   [VoL. 4

And thus, with kindly souls that pass

Through Baca's vale of weeping,-

Beside whose way the fountains play,

Joy bringing, verdure keeping,-

From strength to strength this pilgrim went

With grace that ne'er forsook him,

Till suddenly, at break of day,

He was not, for God took him.

We tell our loss, we bear our pain,

Still thankful hearts upraising;

For life so large and fruit so fair

Our God, the giver, praising;

The heart must bleed, the tears must fall,

But smiles through tear-drops glitter;

We drink the cup and grateful find

The sweet within the bitter.

Brethren of this church, of these churches, friends and

neighbors all, it is no extravagance to say that not only our

churches, but many of our homes, all our good causes, this

whole city, indeed, is made distinctly poorer by the departure

of our friend. All things pure and honorable and of good report

have lost a true lover, a strong helper. From that fund of act

ive friendliness and sympathy which makes social life possible,

some serious deduction has been made. Is there not need that

we, that all of us, should charge ourselves with the duty of

repairing what we can of this loss-so that the ranks of those

who care for the good fame of this city shall stand firmly and

move forward; so that the standards of honorable business shall

not be lowered, and they who give their lives to the services of

charity shall not lose heart, and the heralds of sweetness and

light shall speak not to heedless ears; so that the heavy laden

may be cheered and comforted, and the lonely may not lack a

friend, and the way be kept open for the beautiful feet of those

who come proclaiming peace on earth and good will to men.