Sarah met George Washington Paschal, a Georgian from Skull Shoals, while he was serving as an aide-de-camp to General George Wool. The general was given the task of driving the Cherokee from their land. Thurman Wilkins wrote in his book, Cherokee Tragedy, “Sally, who had become a charming Cherokee belle, though her coloring, like that of Major Ridge himself, was dark, much darker than John’s. “A full dark Cherokee,” observed Miss Sawyer, the schoolteacher, “…a young lady of superior talent . . . very interesting in her person and appearance.” She was graceful in form and movements. She dressed well, mostly in blue calico, then considered a fine fabric, and more than one white man wanted to marry her. According to the legend that grew up around her: She was a most accomplished rider…Once her lover, the man she at last married, ‘bought from a Tennessee drover a nag for Miss Sally to ride on.’ He presented it to her, saddled and bridled, and begged the pleasure of riding with her. She mounted on the pony gaily, but something about the bridle needed adjusting, the lover slipped it off the pony’s head to fix it. No sooner loose than the pony bounded off unfettered, and he and Miss Sally, for thirteen miles, tried for the mastery of the situation. ‘Miss Sally rode him down’, it is said, and ever afterward the pony seemed a dispirited animal.”
“Sarah and George were married at East Brainerd, Tennessee on the 27th of February 1837. A year later they followed Sarah’s family to Honey Creek in the northeast corner of Cherokee lands. Their daughter, Emily Anderson Paschal was born there on the 18th of May 1838, before the Paschals moved on and settled in Van Buren, Arkansas.
Paschal, who was admitted to the bar in 1832, was a lawyer of commendable intellect. Once he was settled in Van Buren, he and his brother opened a law practice there. In 1842 he was elected to an eight-year term as associate judge on the Arkansas Supreme Court, but resigned within a year, returning to Van Buren to represent the Cherokee Nation in their appeals to the United States Congress. In about 1847, the Paschals moved to Galveston, Texas and he was admitted to practice before the Texas Supreme Court on December 28, 1847.