Sarah Elizabeth "Sallie" was the 11th of 13 children born to Jesse Stafford and his wife Elizabeth Thurman, in Sevier County TN. Sallie will end up being the only one of her childhood family not buried in Sevier County, TN. Her parents and 10 of her siblings are buried in the same family cemetery near Sevierville, called Stafford Cemetery.

The family story is that Sallie/her mother/her grandmother were full-blooded Cherokee. No documentary proof has been found, but Jesse Stafford's parents are unknown. The family had an old postcard-style photograph, since lost, that showed a girl dressed in Native American clothes, that was believed to be a direct ancestor. Descendants remember that Sallie herself spoke Cherokee, lived for awhile on the Cherokee reservation in North Carolina, on the other side of the Smoky Mountains, working there as a teacher. At least two of Sallie's grown children, Josie and William Beacher "Doc", spoke Cherokee.

Sallie married at age 24, on 28 Jan 1882, to the slightly younger Frederick Emert Robertson. They appear on the 1900 Sevier County, TN census, with their seven surviving children (out of 8 born), plus their son-in-law Walter Sims, who was married to their oldest daughter Josie.

By 1900, Sallie and Frederick are ready to pull up their deep Sevier County TN roots. By that time two of her siblings, Pleasant and Virena, had committed suicide, and Sallie has lost her mother and one young son, Munson. Then her father Jesse Stafford dies in 1899,at age 80. His will leaves his second wife $500 and each surviving adult child $1500, so he may have liquidated his land holdings. Within a few years Sallie and her husband and all their children leave for Oklahoma, possibly lured by the "boomer sooner" promise of free land.

In 1907 Sallie and husband appear on the Little, Seminole County, Oklahoma Territorial census, misindexed as "Robinson." On the 1910 federal census they are in Dent, Pottawatomie County OK census, living on a rented farm. Sallie's husband dies in 1916, burial location unknown. Sallie has not been located on the 1920 or the 1930 census. Her death certificate states she is to be buried in Maple Grove Cemetery, but no marker has been found

After Sallie's death her daughter Josie and son William Beacher ("Doc") and some of her grandchildren will move further west, to Stanilaus County, California.

From the 5 Jan 1933 Seminole County News:

MRS SALLY ROBERTSON SEMINOLE PIONEER DEAD

Mrs. Sally Robertson, 75-year-old Seminole pioneer, died at her home east of town, at 4 o'clock Sunday morning, after suffering from pneumonia for the past several days.

Rev. H.T. Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church, preached the funeral sermon at the cemetery chapel at 3 o'clock Sunday afternoon.

The deceased is survived by four sons, Oath, W.E., Doc, and Robert, all of whom are oil field workers in this area. [Note: Daughter Josie Sims is erroneously left off the list of surviving children, and "Robert" refers to Robert Coleman, a close family friend not a son.]