In 1858 Bellevue set aside four city blocks as a cemetery, although it was thought to have been used earlier as unofficial burial plots. One of the earliest markers is of Jean Allen, dated 1856 and located 70 feet northwest of the site, and Jean Allen and Esther Peters were buried within one month of each other. Other notable burials are Big Elk and fourteen of his braves; Big Elk was the last full-blooded chief of the Omaha Tribe. Also buried here are Fenner Ferguson, first chief justice of the Nebraska Territory, Dr. Frank Gifford, a noted archeologist, and a pioneer child buried before 1856 whose grave was covered with a slab of rock to discourage predators.