Fresno County, California Biographies

Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of 
the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with 
its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919)

History By Paul E. Vandor 
Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes 
Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919
 
Notes: Missing+page1185-1186

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


CAPT. HERBERT A. SESSIONS.� A worthy descendant of his fore- 
bears of early Colonial days, Herbert A. Sessions, Fresno County's very com- 
petent probation officer, was born in Berkshire County, Mass., July 17, 1866. 
He was the son of Samuel Alanson and Olive (Hibbard) Sessions, who, after 
leaving the old Bay State, lived in the states of Ohio and Michigan. Both 
are now deceased. On the Sessions' side of the house his ancestry in America 
dates back to 1633, the year that Connecticut Colony was founded and three 
years before Roger Williams founded Providence. On the maternal (Hib- 
bard) side his ancestors came to America in 1631, eleven years after the 
Puritans landed on Plymouth Rock. His forebears on both paternal and 
maternal sides were prominent in the Revolutionary War, in which they 
served with distinction. 

Herbert A. Sessions received the best education the common schools 
and high schools of Michigan afforded, and afterward taught school for six 
years in that state. His inclinations then turned toward newspaper work, in 
which he successfully engaged in Michigan and Iowa. During the Spanish 
War he served as a volunteer in Company F, Fifty-first Iowa Volunteer 
Infantry, for one and one-half years, part of this time in the Philippines ; at 
the end of that time he returned to the United States and was honorably 
discharged from military duty at the Presidio. In 1904 he came to Fresno, 
and in July of that year he was united in marriage with Miss Gertrude Steele. 
Their union has been blessed with the birth of four children, three boys and 
one girl. He has three children by a former marriage, two girls and one boy. 

Mr. Sessions was instrumental in the organization of the Juvenile Court 
in 1904, serving as its officer without pay until 1911, and was then appointed 
on a salary for four years. For three years, while out of probation work, he 
took care of his own farming interests, improving over a section of tree and 
alfalfa land, and at the same time was manager of the Riverside Vineyard 
Company, after which he was appointed to his present position. The Parental 
Home was built under his supervision, and after its completion he was given 
charge of it. The new detention house was built according to his plans and 
designs, and he was a member of the Citizen's Relief Committee which built 
shelter for the unemployed, as well as a member of the Municipal Employ- 
ment Bureau. For two years he was a director of the Fresno County Fair 
Association, and inaugurated the Better Babies Contest exhibits, for children. 
He also inaugurated the stock-judging contest for boys in connection with 
said Fresno County Fair. Mr. Sessions is now serving in his ninth year as 
probation officer. In the performance of his official duties he has three able 
assistants: Oliver M. Akers, Ella M. Towle and Mrs. O. S. Hecox, all of 
the city of Fresno. Some 500 cases are on record each year. Of this number 
about 100 deal with adults and 400 with juveniles. As a probation officer 
Mr. Sessions is guided by the voice of Him who said: "Go, and sin no 
more." That his lofty idealism is bearing good fruit is attested by the fact 
that ninety-five percent, of those paroled "make good." 

During the recent war Mr. Sessions organized the Fifty-eighth Company 
of California Military Reserves, sometimes known as the Home Guards, and 
is Senior Captain of the Fresno Battalion, consisting of three companies. 
During the war he was also appointed and served as an associate member 
of the Military Training Camps Association of the United States, the field 
of his activities being the San Joaquin Valley. This board selected many 
candidates for the Officers' Training School. 

In his religious views Mr. Sessions is an Episcopalian, in politics a Re- 
publican. He is a Mason, and has passed the third degree in that order. He is 
also a member of the Woodmen of the World, and a charter member of the 
Commercial Club.