THE WAUPACA POST

April 18, 1991

 

WHEN THEN WAS NOW

By Wayne A. Guyant

 

            The reminiscences of Edward P. Sessions confirm when, exactly, the Sessions family left the Waupaca area for the far west.  Edward Parish Sessions was a son of Erastus C. and Abigail Sessions, and was the first white boy to be born in Waupaca County.

            It was one spring day in 1858, when E. C. Sessions, as he was better known, along with William and Robert Steele, started out for Pike’s Peak, CO.  While on their journey westward they met a party coming back from Pike’s Peak, and after talking to them, they switched their course and headed for California, wintering on the old Shaffer ranch, which later became the George Mapes ranch, about 10 miles west of Amadee.  They mined on the Feather River for a couple of years before E.C. Sessions went to Nevado to prepare a home for his family, coming soon from Waupaca.

            On May 1, 1861, Mrs. Esther Steele and her three children – Sophia, Alex, and Minnie; Mrs. Abigail Sessions, with her three children – John Orville, Edward Parish and Charles Dana – all left Waupaca for new frontiers in the west.  Mrs. Sessions left behind a little grave in the Waupaca cemetery, that of Abby C. Sessions, who was the only daughter of E.C. and Abby Sessions, who had died on September 14, 1856, aged 11 weeks and two days.

            Jule Cody, Lon Harris and a couple of others were hired on to escort this little caravan of pioneers to Nevada.  The caravan consisted of the two grown women and their six children, a crew of four, two covered wagons, and two yoke of oxen.  They left Waupaca heading for Council Bluffs, IA, crossing the river there, through Omaha, NE, and up the north side of the Platte River, to Sweetwater Valley and then Fort Bridger, over the Rocky Mountains and down into Salt Lake City, UT.

            The trip to Salt Lake City was not without incident.  On the plains along the North Platte the children had to gather buffalo chips for the campfires and cooking purposes.  To make matters worse Mrs. Sessions’ best ox got alkalied so the load had to be lightened by throwing out many of her precious keep-sakes.  Abigail, better known as Abby, cried as if her heart would break.

            The children had to walk as much as possible until they could find another ox.  Their bare feet became chapped and sore.

            Mr. Steele met the little caravan at Salt Lake City and he happened to have an extra ox.  The caravan was now under his guidance.  He took them down through the Humboldt Valley, Carson Sink, to Silver City, NV, where they arrived about October 20, 1861, after 173 days on the trail.  Silver City, Gold Hill and Virginia City were the three mining towns of the Comstock Lode, all within a few miles of each other.

            At one point between Salt Lake City and Silver City, Mr. Steele lined the children up and made them eat some chopped-up onions with some salt.  It was said that it made the tears come to their eyes, and they were the strongest onions that they ever ate.  Mr. Steele had a very good reason for the onions. Scurvy was a common and dreaded affliction among overland immigrants, and raw onions, being rich in vitamin C, were commonly used as an antiscorbutic.

            The little caravan from Waupaca did not encounter any Indians, although they had someone stand guard at night.  They were relieved when they arrived at Salt Lake City, because Mr. Steele told them that the Indians were peaceful, as there was no Indian war in progress in 1861.

            Shortly after arriving at Silver City, E.C. Sessions built a two-room house where they spent the winter.  In the spring of 1862, the Sessions moved in Virginia City, and lived there until April 18, 1863, when they moved to Truckee Meadows, CA, where Mr. Sessions had bought a ranch.  Truckee Meadows was approximately 16 miles west of Reno, NV. There was now a new addition to the family; Carrie was about five weeks old when they moved from Nevada into CA.

            In the fall of 1864, E.C. Sessions was county commissioner of Washoe County, NV, and the family moved back to Washoe City, which was the county seat.  It was here in Washoe City that another girl, Celia, was born January 14, 1865.  E.C. Sessions lived in Washoe City and had his ranch over in California. E.C. Sessions started a milk business in Reno, NV and Edward P. peddled milk for 2-1/2 years of his father.

            In 1869 E.C. Sessions, his wife, Abby, and three of their children – Charles, Carrie and Celia – went back to Vermont to visit relatives.  Orville and Edward, with a hired man, stayed home and ran the ranch and dairy business. When the family returned from Vermont, Aunt Bessie parish returned with them, later marrying C.H. Eastman.  Now this tells me that Abigail had a sister, Bessie Parish, so Abigail’s maiden name had to be Parish.  After returning from Vermont, Mr. Sessions started Edward and Orville out in the cattle business.  He gave them eight cows.

            There are several pages of the Reminiscences of Edward P. Sessions that goes on about the trials and tribulations of being a rancher.  Edward tells of several cattle drives that he made from Truckee Meadows to Fort Bidwell, in Modoc County, which is in the extreme northeastern corner of California.

            He and his brothers trailed some horse thieves over 2,000 miles; there was claim jumping; rodeoing; dry summers with little feed and cold winters with deep snows.

            By 1890, he had a herd of 750 head of cattle, only to lose one-third of them that winter.

            In 1892, Edward Sessions purchased 300 feet of light well casing and in 1893 he put in wells.  He no longer had to break the ice each morning before the cattle could drink.  Edward Sessions was now in Modoc County, CA, and like so many other pioneer ranchers in Modoc County, their ranches finally passed out of the family ownership when they were combined with other pioneer properties, to become the Sagehorn Ranch.

            Edward Parish Sessions, the first white boy to be born in Waupaca County, was married in the spring of 1877. There is no mention of his wife’s name.  After retiring, Edward Sessions moved to Berkely, CA, to live.  He died there February 11, 1928, aged 75 years.