George Washington Warthan came to Texas from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with his brothers Thomas I. and Robert J. in 1852. He married Amanda Johnson, and they settled in the Red River Valley in 1855. In 1861, he joined Company E of the 32nd Texas Cavalry and saw action in more than 30 Civil War battles. Captured in 1864 and held as a prisoner of war until 1865, he returned to Texas at age 29 and expanded his Red River County landholdings through grants and purchases. His acquisitions included land north of the farming community of Garland that contained a cemetery used by area residents, with graves believed to predate the Republic of Texas. In 1881, he set aside the burial ground as Warthan Cemetery and urged his family to preserve it. By the late 1960s, early grave indicators such as Bois d'Arc markers and loose stones had disappeared. The cemetery land was formally deeded in 1951 and later enlarged, and with its earliest marked grave dating to 1881, it remains a tie to generations of Warthans and other area residents.