David and Patty Sessions Home

The Sessions Home highlights the contributions of Patty Sessions, a Latter-day Saint midwife and early member of the Relief Society who delivered hundreds of babies in Nauvoo and thousands more in Utah.

Patty and her husband David Sessions arrived in Hancock County by 1840 and were among the first to leave Nauvoo in February 1846 when the Saints began their westward journey. A log home built in the 1990s stands approximately where the original structure once stood when the Sessions family lived on this property in the 1840s.

While she is perhaps the most well-known midwife in Latter-day Saint history, Patty Sessions entered the business by accident when living in Maine as a newlywed. Her elderly mother-in-law, an experienced midwife, couldn’t get to a laboring mother quickly enough, so Patty rushed there and delivered the baby herself. Her skill—despite having no training—was so impressive that the doctor who arrived after the birth encouraged her to continue in the profession. Patty was so devoted to caring for women that she recorded in her journal the babies she delivered mere days before leaving Nauvoo.

What to Expect

The Sessions Home is an additional Pioneer Life experience. The home is a one-room self-guided tour. After visiting the Sessions Home, you are free to explore the rest of Nauvoo. You might be interested in other Pioneer Life experiences such as the guided tour, Pastimes Pavilion, Family Living Center, or Wagon Depot.