Miss Cogart says John (1758) and Richard (circa 1746) are brothers. Media says Thomas and John are brothers or cousins. If this were to turn out to be true then we probably have tied the Sessions of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama together through John (1711) who was a son of either John, Thomas or Richard of early Chowan county North Carolina and children of Thomas or Elias of York, Virginia.

I went through Colab Ref 83 to see if I could locate the other reference needed to verify the statement "Another line in America was that represented about the year 1771 bv Thomas and John Sessions, possibly brothers or cousins, who were resident in the Carolinas. At the outset, I can pinpoint only one reference from the bibliography where the year 1771 can be found. Colab Ref 83 u 5 states, "Richard Sessions, born in Wilmington S.C., 1771, son of Thomas". This has to be Thomas circa 1741. The "brother or cousin" then has to be John 1758. At this point it becomes difficult, if not impossible to adjust our thoughts sufficiently to accommodate the idea of Thomas and John being "brothers or cousins", because Media in virtually the same sentence ties John to the time period of Teach (also known as the pirate Bluebeard). Media gets the idea concerning Teach from Colab Ref 83 u 3. If we dissociate the concept of Thomas and John from the time period of Teach, then it is only one step to Colab Ref 83 u 3 where "John Sessions, who was a sea faring man and known as one of Blue Beards men", ties Thomas and John of 1771 to John of circa 1683. Since Teach was killed in 1718, and John circa 1730-1740 and Thomas circa 1741 were not born, then the "folk lore" of Robert Lee Sessions must have been hand me down, and he was thinking about an earlier John, John (1711) is out of consideration, since he would have been only 7 years old. Thus he would not likely be other than say a cabin boy during the time of Teach. However John of circa 1685 would have been between 6 and 33 years of age during the Golden Age of piracy, 1678-1718 when Teach was active.

The environment surrounding the life of John Sessions (circa 1685) and his neighbors, were that of seafaring men. John lived along the main road down Kesiah Neck. He was overseer of said road in 1715 as ordered by the court. Windsor, 15 miles west of Albemarle Sound, was on Kesiah River and in the early days of Bertie county was a port of entry. From Windsor tobacco, cotton, peanuts, lumber etc. was shipped. Thus the products of John Sessions "400 odd acres" on the "south side of Kesiah River, and the north side of Roanoke River" is easily visualized as being prepared for shipment to England or other foreign ports from either Windsor or say from John's own dock if he lived along side of Kesiah River. In many of the historical novels relating to John's era such activities are described.

Among the miscellaneous items found recorded in the Albemarle county records, at Edenton, North Carolina, we find the following: "Othniel Davis, mariner, late commander of the Sloop Neville, a private man of war, bound upon a cruising voyage against Spaniards, enemies of the Crown of Great Britain, captured a certain ship St. Anthony, lawfully taken by said Pltff, and by a decree of the Court of Admiralty of North Carolina the 12 day of Sept. 1719, at Bath Town adjudged a prize and ordered to be shared by the Captors as the Law directs".

North Carolina has a long and proud history of privateering. These privateers during the Revolutionary War were even more numerous than the State Navy. These privately owned ships ravaged Britain shipping and brought in many valuable cargoes. The more successful ships made fortunes for their owners. Smuggling and piracy was prevalent from 1689 to 1718 because of the attitude toward these questionable practices was different than from that which developed later. English trade laws were extremely unpopular in the Colonies and it was smart, proper and profitable to evade them. Hence smuggling prevailed everywhere. Piracy was not considered an unmitigated evil and many of the pirates were regarded as respectable men who were sheltered and protected by the people. Many started out as privateers and ended up as despicable thieves. It was a thin line between the two.

Edward Berry, John Session's brother-in-law, lived on Berry's Plantation near John Sessions on Kesiah Neck. Edward, John and Richard Sessions were friends of William Frost. The name Frost was an alias for Burt. William Frost made a will giving Edward Berry power of attorney to take charge of lands and chattels for his two children. The will was dated June 2nd, 1711. John and Richard Sessions were witnesses.

At this period of time, Thomas Sessions was living up on the Wiccacon Creek and virtually next door to the Boone family, It was Ester Boone who was the daughter of Joseph Boone who married Richard Sessions of Sampson county, North Carolina of the 1771 era. Thomas Sessions also had his name recorded as Thomas Sessions. It is also worth noting that Joseph Boone, who presented the following petition to Parliament on March 13, 1905: "The Humble Petition of Joseph Boone, Merchant on behalf of himself and many other inhabitants of the Province of Carolina and also several merchants of London, trading to Carolina and the neighboring colonies of her Majesty in America." This established Joseph Boone and John Sessions in the same time period along with Teach, Moseley, Frost, Berry etc.

Frost was leaving America at the time of the War of Succession. The planters of North Carolina also between harvests, engaged in shipping, conceivably, their own produce. Teach, and other pirates such as Bonnet were occupied as privateers in the War of Spanish Succession. At the cessation of hostilities in 1713, Teach turned pirate. He captured a French merchant man ship, equipped it with 40 guns, renamed it "QUEEN ANNE'S REVENGE", and preyed on shipping off the Virginia and Carolina coasts. It became so bad that finally the Governors of Virginia and South Carolina commissioned men and ships to put a stop to such piracy. Stede Bonnet was captured, tried and hung at Charleston December 10, 1718. Teach, or Bluebeard as he was called, was killed at Coracoke November 22, 1718. In the battle with Teach half of his crew of 18 were killed and the remaining nine were taken to Virginia and hanged. The same treatment was meted out to Bonnet's crew. All in all, during November and December of 1718 no fewer than 49 "Carolina pirates" were hanged at Charleston.

John Sessions was occupied over the period "April 15, 1715 through 1742 with assumption of guardianship of John and Mary Berry, who had been left orphans at the death of Edward Berry. Berry had been killed by Indians and his wife, Mary Sessions Berry, had previously drowned.

During this time, John had been ordered by the court to oversee the highway from Edward Smithwick's to Charleton's meadow in "Sehoi Neck". He was on a jury to lay out the main road down "Kesia Neck". He patented several hundred acres up in Edgecomb County only to sell it two years later. He was up "Churyantock" in 1736 and living along Roequis Swamp on the "Indian line" in 1740 and 1742. It is recorded he was living on land known as "Indian Woods" located in the present Bortie County on January 12, 1735.

John lived much longer than the period of time when the pirates were being rounded up and executed. There is no record that he was one of them, nor was the name Bluebeard recorded. The exciting times and strong likelihood of the colonists being associated with seafaring vessels, (considered along with the information that the close friends of the Sessions, Frost, etc were sufficiently involved with intrigue requiring the use of an alias) should give sufficient background for folklore to contrive stories involving Bluebeard. In the Crerar Library in Chicago in 1943 there was a statement that "Thomas Sessions patrolled from the bridge to Durant Neck to guard against the inroads of Teach. If this is true, it is not likely his brother John would be associated with Teach. However down through the succeeding generations the story could have become twisted into the form Robert Lee had heard. We can only conclude that reference to the year 1771 was an unresearched statement and Media tied it in with an unrealistic time period for John, the father of Richard.

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