Emanuel and Rachel Montgomery Everheart arrived here in 1848 with their son, William, and members of her family. By 1850, the Everhearts owned 3,346 acres, including this land. Family history holds that the oldest burials here, in the northwest corner, date prior to 1853 and are those of the Everhearts' slaves. Pilot Grove Cumberland Presbyterian Church, organized at Kentuckytown, moved to Everheart land a mile east of this site and became known as the Canaan Church. Members used this cemetery and shared their sanctuary with a Methodist Episcopal congregation that moved from Pitman's Chapel. The oldest marked grave, dated June 24, 1875, is that of W.H. Rumsower, one of several Confederate soldiers buried here. Other burials include William C. Everheart, Grayson County Sheriff from 1876 to 1880 and later a Deputy United States Marshal. Many pioneers of the Canaan community are buried in family plots here. Nell Arnoldi Everheart cared for the cemetery until her death in 1973, and the Everheart Cemetery Association later formed.