Taylor (Ben) was the eldest of four sons born to this family. He was born 26 September 1984 at Santa Monica, California. By the time he was three or four years old there were no children in the houses around his home. One day Ben and his friends were playing a game of “Pack Train” to the mountains. I do not know if Ben was the packhorse or not, but old cans were their supplies. Another boy threw an old mashed can at Ben, hitting him on the head and knocking him out. It made an injury that made his hair grow “white” on that spot for the rest of his life. Another time while climbing a crooked tree, he fell and cut his left arm just above the wrist. This made an “S” shaped scar that he also carried the rest of his life.
Ben always did well in school. He completed the fourth grade in the one room schoolhouse within Santa Monica’s South side. He then, walked a mile to Santa Monica Proper for the 5th and 6th grades. He was never absent a single day. He was on the honor rolls every month.
I remember once he had an injured foot and could not walk. He would therefore “hop” on one foot as far as he could. Then his brother, Ralph (Lucas), would carry him on his back a little. Then Ben would hop again. He did not miss one day of school.
Ben was eleven when the family moved to Pima, Arizona by train. On the 7th of November of 1895, his mother, Ralph, Ben and I were baptized and confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The air was cold, the wind was cold and the Gila River water was cold. It was an extremely “cold” baptism. The river was the only place that one could get baptized. We walked across the rough gravel bank lightly clad, and led to the deep cold water hole. After baptism, we were led shivering out of the water where the ladies made a huddle under the leafless trees and helped mother and me into dry clothing. The men made a huddle and did the same for the boys. Then we each sat in a chair for our confirmation. My teeth chattered so hard and fast I thought they would never stop, and Ben's were just as bad. Ben was baptized by Jacob Burns and confirmed by John Taylor.
Ben completed the 7th grade at Pima. In May 1896 the family moved to Thatcher, six miles up the river. Here he completed the 8th grade and then attended the LDS Academy, getting his high school diploma.
He had a good singing voice and was the male lead in the LDS Academy play, “Pinafore” in the summer of 1903. He took me to a mine he worked in at Bisbee, Az.
In 1905 he married Edna Messinger. They returned to Bisbee and the mines. Their oldest son, Dwight Bentley was born there on 8 September 1906 in Lowell, Cochise, Az. Then they moved to Bryce, Arizona, which is across the river from Thatcher and farmed a few years. Their second son, Taylor Kenneth, was born at Bryce, Graham, Az. on 19 June 1909. This place was also known locally as “Lizzard Bump”.
They returned to Bisbee after farming since a growing family required a steady income which could be provided by the Copper Queen Mine at Bisbee, Arizona. During the summer of 1916, Ben bought a new Studebaker touring car. This car provided pleasure to their lives with touring, family picnics and visiting family. Two more sons were born at Bisbee: Henry Messinger Sessions known as (Hard Rock) who was born on 9 September 1914 and James Clyde Sessions born 15 January 1919.
Ben was chorister for the Warren LDS Ward at Bisbee. Three months before his son, Clyde’s third birthday, we was killed in a mine cave in. This was October 13, 1921. His funeral was the largest I ever saw. A mining official representing the Copper Queen said…”You hear of 100% men…..Mr. Sessions was a 100% man."
[Written by Martha Louise Sessions and recorded in Taylor Kenneth Sessions
files, in Three Rivers, California]