HISTORY OF SESSUMS COMMUNITY THROUGH 1976 MRS ...

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Sessums
Captain Solomon David Sessums, for whom the village of Sessums, Oktibbeha County,
Mississippi, was named, was the grandson of Lieutenant Solomon Sessums and his
wife, Elizabeth Lloyd Sessums, and of Dr. Isaac Sessums (1787-1869) and his wife,
Mary Ann (Polly) Short Sessums (179018?). He was born in or near Hilliardston, Nash
County, North Carolina on August 22, 1821 and died May 16, 1895. Solomon David
Sessums was married three times, and had seven children by each wife. His first
wife was Lucy Gray Sills of Nash County, North Carolina. They were married in 1840.
In 1845 they moved from North Carolina to Mississippi and settled near Louisville.
In 1851 Lucy died at Sessums and was buried in Columbus. Only one of the seven
children, Lucy Sills Sessums, survived. She was six weeks old when her mother died,
and was adopted by her father's only sister, Harriet Sessums Drake and her husband,
Dr. Joseph Drake of Hilliardston, North Carolina.
Lucy Sills Sessums married Dossey William Outlaw (2/7/1843- 3/18/1918). To this
couple six children were born: Harriete Drake Outlaw; Lucy Sessums Outlaw; Dossey
William Outlaw; Joseph Drake Outlaw; Mary Blanche Outlaw; and Clary Elizabeth
Outlaw.
Lucy Sills Sessums Outlaw is the grandmother of Mrs. Wilburn Page (Ada Lee Outlaw)
of Starkville and the Oktoc Community, and is buried at Sessums in the Sessums
Family Cemetery.
Three years after her death Solomon David Sessums married Lida Hibbler of
Cooksville, Mississippi, on September 20, 1854. She died January 11, 1864 at
Sessums. Only three of their seven children lived: Isaac; Martha (or Mittie); Polly
Harriet.
It was this Isaac Sessums, who according to Judge Carroll in his History of
Oktibbeha County, was killed by a gun he had fixed to fire when the door to one of
his buildings was opened. He had hoped to kill a thief, but forgetting his trap,
opened the door and killed himself. He was buried in the family cemetery at
Sessums.
Three years after his second wife died, Solomon David Sessums married his third
wife, Henrietta Eleanor Kirskey of Crawford, Mississippi. Henrietta was born in
Eutaw, Alabama, April 30, 1846, and died July 19, 1913 at Columbus, Mississippi.
Six of their seven children lived. They were: David Jackson; Mary Ann; Battle
Kirksey; Turner Wesley; Henrietta Eleanor; and Irwin Dancy.
Our generation knows the last child, Irwin Dancy, as "Major Sessums" of Mississippi
State University. His sister always called him "colonel."