James Monroe and Permelia Ann (Brizendine) Mathis came to the Combine area in about 1870, joining family already settled there. The couple had 12 children, but not all lived to adulthood; eight-year-old Harriet (1864-1873) became the earliest burial in Pleasant Grove Cemetery. In 1879, James and Permelia conveyed one adjacent acre for Pleasant Grove Schoolhouse, which also became an early meeting place for Point View Baptist Church and Pleasant Grove Church of Christ. After the school consolidated and the churches moved, the cemetery expanded into the adjoining acreage. Pleasant Grove Cemetery Association formed in 1985 to preserve this final resting place of pioneers and generations of their descendants.