Daughter of Isaac and Perla Sheftall Russell, and granddaughter of Philip Moses Russell, Sarah Sheftall Russell was born in 1818, the fifth of nine children. She married Phillip Nathans in Savannah in 1840, one of several Russell women to marry into the Nathans family. Her aunt, also named Sarah, married Phillip’s older brother David, another aunt, Judith, married Isaiah, Philip’s father, her sister Henrietta married Philip’s younger brother, Abraham, while another aunt, Rebecca, married Philip’s cousin David.