The first burial at New Ebenezer Cemetery was James Shorter Grimes, who died on May 20, 1903, at age 48. His wife, Malissia Tillis, and nine of their fourteen children are also buried there. In 1903, their son, John Temple Grimes, with M.G. Caylor and A.D. Donaldson, purchased a half acre of land for the cemetery. Many Grimes descendants are buried there along with other members of the community. The last surviving Confederate widow, Alberta Stewart Martin, was buried there near her mother, Mattie Stewart, on May 31, 2004. New Ebenezer Baptist Church was relocated next to the cemetery in 1904, and the church has maintained the cemetery for many years. The cemetery was listed in the Alabama Historic Cemetery Register on May 26, 2016.