Malissa (Dodson) Sides became the first person buried at this site in March 1891. Believed to have been half Native American, she and her Cherokee half sister Ellen Murphy survived the U.S. government relocation of the tribe during their youth, and they later came to Collin County from Indian Territory with Malissa’s husband, Henry I. Sides. In October 1891, charter Methodist church members Franklin J. and Nancy (Van Hues) Rominger donated one acre of land, including Malissa Sides’s gravesite, to the trustees of the Pleasant Grove Methodist Episcopal Church, South, for use as a public burial ground. The Romingers, Henry Sides, and Ellen Murphy are interred there along with descendants of these and other pioneer families. For many years, trustees raised funds and maintained the grounds through stew suppers and annual decoration days. A 1993 count found more than 1000 graves, most with markers of some kind. The graves of 141 infants in the old north section reflect the harsh conditions of pioneer life, and 7 Confederate and 52 other veterans of U.S. and international conflicts are buried there. It continues to serve the area.