Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix - Texas Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

According to her FindAGrave biography, Sarah Ridge was the daughter of Major Ridge (a famous Cherokee) and Susannah "Susie" Catherine Wickett (both buried at Polson Cemetery, Delaware Co., OK); she had the following siblings: Nancy (1799-1817), John Ridge (1802-1839, buried at Polson), Unknown baby boy who died at birth, and Walter S. Ridge (1806-1851, buried at Polson).

She married on 27 Feb 1837 in East Brainerd, TN, George Washington Paschal (a lawyer); they had the following children: Emily Anderson (1838-1844), George Walter (b. 1841), Susan Agnes "Soonie" (1843-1846), Ridge Watie (1845-1907), Emily "Agnes" Paschal McNeir (buried at McNeir with her husband William), and John Franklin Paschal 1848-1849).

Sarah & George moved to Galveston, TX, when Emily Ages was 6 months old. Stand Watie killed James Foreman, a white man, in self-defense and George Washington Paschal represented Stand in court, and Stand was found innocent--the first Indian to be cleared of a white man's murder in a white man's court.

Sarah and George divorced and she married Charles Sisson Pix (a man 19 yrs. younger) at the home of TX Gov. Mirabeau B. Lamar; they had one child: Charles Forest Pix (buried at McNeir). Sarah traded her land in Galveston for 500 acres at Smith Point, Chambers Co., TX. Sarah & Charles ran a cattle ranch there and used the cattle brand "The Lizard" which her father Major Ridge used and her daughter Emily "Agnes" Paschal McNeir used. The brand is burned into the wall at the Klehberg Center at Texas A&M and is currently at the Chieftain's Museum/Major Ridge Home in GA.

Sarah and Charles were divorced and her daughter Emily Agnes wrote the brief for her mother who was able to keep her "disputed" property and who became the first woman in TX to keep her property after a divorce.

All of Sarah's possessions were left to Emily Agnes who had married William McNeir. There is a historical marker on the outside of the McNeir Cemetery (FM 562) dedicated to Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix.

Marker Number: 9130 Marker Text: 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. (1979)

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Date Logged Log   10/19/2019 jhuoni visited it