Tradition holds that Captain A.M. Curry suggested the name for the Pioneer community, established in 1883, and Bill Smith became its first postmaster in 1885. Burial at this site predates the community’s development, beginning with Mrs. S.A. Briggs, believed to be Catherine P. Owsley Briggs, in 1879. William L. and Mary Ann (Hampton) Browning formally deeded the land in 1906 for use as a burial ground for the largely agricultural settlement. An oil boom in the 1920s brought thousands of new residents, but by the 1940s oil production had waned, and the railroad, along with most settlers and businesses, had left the area. Additional land donations enlarged the cemetery over the years. Members of the Pioneer Quilting Club long cared for it, raising funds for cleaning and for a war memorial placed in 1948 for area soldiers killed in World Wars I and II. Those buried here include Catherine Martin O’Neal Lovett, a Cherokee survivor of the Trail of Tears March of 1838. Today, an association maintains the burial ground as a link to Pioneer’s early settlement.