Founded in 1875, the church and cemetery site was given on Dec. 27, 1875, by local landowners John and Elizabeth Gibbons. This tract and some later purchases were deeded to the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The church and cemetery were named in honor of Confederate war veteran Jodie M. Bell, a church and civic leader in the Rockett community and the first person buried here in 1877. Red Oak Masonic Lodge No. 461, chartered in 1876, helped build a 2-story chapel and meeting hall, and the lodge moved to Red Oak in 1894.