The family removed to Chautauqua County. He attended the common schools and Westfield Academy. Then he studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1849, and commenced practice in Panama.
Sessions was elected as a Republican to the 42nd and 43rd United States Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1875. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law.
Sessions was elected to the 49th United States Congress, holding office from March 4, 1885, to March 3, 1887. Afterwards he resumed the practice of law in Jamestown and Panama. He was appointed Commissioner of the State of New York to the World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago, Illinois, in 1893.
History of Harmony, NY transcribed from History of Chautauqua County, New York and Its People by John P. Downs & Fenwick Y. Hedley (1921), at Ray's Place