McNeir Cemetery
Smith Point, Chambers County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Also known as McNeir Family Cemetery, this burial ground is the final resting place for Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix and her descendants. Her father, known as Major Ridge, was a Cherokee chief in Georgia. He and others were assassinated in 1839 over a controversial treaty. Sarah came to Texas in 1848 with her husband George Washington Paschal and settled in Galveston. There, in 1850, she treated yellow fever victims using a Cherokee remedy. She also divorced Paschal the same year. In 1856, she wed Charles Sisson Pix and moved to Smith Point, where their son, Charles Forest Pix, was born in 1857. Tradition holds that at the age of seven, Charles Forest planted an acorn near the Pix home, and the resulting live oak tree later shaded the site of his grave. Although he died in 1874, his father, who had abandoned his family, delayed permission for the burial on the land until the next year. The site later passed to Emily Agnes Paschal McNeir, Sarah's daughter. Emily's husband, William, was the second buried here in what became known as McNeir Cemetery. Family members continue to maintain the small burial ground as a link to their rich history. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This small burial ground holds Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix, daughter of the Cherokee chief Major Ridge, who was assassinated in Georgia in 1839 in the bitter aftermath of the treaty that led to Cherokee removal. Sarah came to Texas in 1848, treated Galveston's yellow-fever victims in 1850 with a Cherokee remedy, and later settled at Smith Point with her second husband. Family tradition holds that her grandson's grave rests beneath a live oak he grew from an acorn as a boy, and descendants still tend the McNeir Cemetery.
Why it matters
The graves link a nationally significant chapter of Cherokee history—Major Ridge, the treaty crisis, and removal—to the Texas Gulf Coast, carried west by one remarkable woman and her family.
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Related people
- · Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix
- · Major Ridge
- · Charles Forest Pix
Related events
- · Cherokee removal
Themes & tags
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