Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix
Smith Point, Chambers County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Born on the family plantation in the Cherokee Nation near present Rome, Georgia, Sarah Ridge (1814-1891) attended mission schools and girls' seminary. Her father Major Ridge was a Cherokee leader and friend of Sam Houston. Major Ridge, Sarah's brother John, and cousin were later assassinated for supporting the treaty which traded Indian lands for acreage in the West. This treaty led to the infamous "Trail of Tears." Sarah married a lawyer, George Washington Paschal, in 1837 and they settled in Arkansas. In 1847 the family and slaves moved to Galveston. During the 1850 yellow fever epidemic Sarah opened her home and treated many of the ill with an Indian remedy. After Sarah and Paschal were divorced, she married Charles C. Sisson Pix, an Englishman, in 1856 in the home of Republic of Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar. Sarah traded her Galveston home for this land of smith Point soon after her marriage. Pix cattle ranged from here to present Liberty. While Pix served in the Confederate Army, Sarah built the ranch into a large operation. With the end of slavery, the ranch declined. After Sarah divorced Pix in 1880, she remained on the ranch with her widowed daughter Agnes Paschal McNeir and two grandsons. Heirs still own the land.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Sarah Ridge (1814–1891) was born into a prominent Cherokee family in Georgia, the daughter of Major Ridge, whose support for the treaty ceding Cherokee lands led to his assassination and to the forced removal remembered as the Trail of Tears. Sarah made her way to Texas, nursed the sick during Galveston's 1850 yellow fever epidemic, and after her marriage traded her city home for this land at Smith Point. While her husband served in the Confederate Army she built a sprawling cattle ranch, running it herself and holding onto the land long after emancipation reshaped the operation.
Why it matters
Her life links the tragedy of Cherokee removal to the making of the Texas frontier, and stands as a striking portrait of a Native woman who commanded a great ranch in her own right.
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Related people
- · Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix
- · Major Ridge
- · John Ridge
- · George Washington Paschal
- · Sam Houston
- · Mirabeau B. Lamar
Related events
- · Trail of Tears
- · Galveston yellow fever epidemic of 1850
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
McNeir Cemetery
Smith Point, TX
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.
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