McNeir Cemetery

Duane's take

The official marker for McNeir Cemetery in Chambers County — here's how I tell it. Now, most cemeteries keep their secrets quiet. But this small patch of ground out near Smith Point has a story that runs all the way back to the Cherokee Nation, through the yellow fever wards of Galveston, and into the shade of a live oak tree planted by a seven-year-old boy who couldn't have known it would one day shade his own grave.

Let's start at the beginning. Sarah Ridge Paschal Pix — the woman whose descendants rest here — was the daughter of a man known as Major Ridge, a Cherokee chief in Georgia. Major Ridge was a figure of consequence, and consequence, as it tends to do, came back around.

He and others were assassinated in 1839 over a controversial treaty. That's not a minor footnote. That's the kind of wound a family carries across generations and across a whole lot of geography.

Sarah carried it to Texas. In 1848, she came with her husband George Washington Paschal and settled in Galveston. Two years later, in 1850, yellow fever was moving through that city the way yellow fever does — fast and merciless — and Sarah treated the sick using a Cherokee remedy.

Same year, she divorced Paschal. She was not, by any measure, a woman who stood still. By 1856 she had wed Charles Sisson Pix, and the two of them moved to Smith Point.

The following year, 1857, their son Charles Forest Pix was born. And here is where the story gets the kind of quiet detail that tends to outlast the loud ones. Tradition holds that when Charles Forest was seven years old, he planted an acorn near the Pix home.

Just a boy and an acorn. That acorn became a live oak tree, and that live oak tree grew tall enough and wide enough to shade the very site where Charles Forest would eventually be buried. Now you tell me the land doesn't remember.

Charles Forest died in 1874. And here's the part that sits heavy: his father, who had abandoned the family, delayed permission for the burial on the land. The boy who had planted a tree on that ground had to wait until 1875 before he could be laid to rest beneath it.

The site later passed to Emily Agnes Paschal McNeir — Sarah's daughter. Emily's husband William was the second person buried here, in what grew into the McNeir Cemetery. Family members continue to maintain this small burial ground to this day, tending it as a link to their rich history.

A Cherokee chief's legacy. A remedy carried across state lines. A tree planted by a child's hand.

All of it folded into one quiet piece of Chambers County ground.

What the marker says

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