Zadock Woods, who died in 1842, was a veteran of the War of 1812 and one of Stephen F. Austin's Old Three Hundred colonists. He brought his family to settle in this area in 1828, built a fortified home on land deeded to his son Montraville, and established a cemetery here for his family and neighbors. The first burial is said to have been a ranch hand, and another alleged early grave is that of Stephen Cottle, brother of Woods' wife Minerva, who died circa 1828 and is traditionally believed to be buried north of his sister's plot; Minerva's grave, dating to 1839, is the first marked one. Zadock Woods himself was not buried here. He was killed in the Dawson Massacre of 1842 and buried at Monument Hill State Historic Site in La Grange in a vault with others who fell with him. Joseph C. Robinson, a survivor of the massacre who endured capture and imprisonment in Mexico, is buried here; he lived until 1861 and was honored here with a Texas Centennial marker in 1936. In 1875, J.A. Darby, M.E. Darby, T.C. Moore, and A.W. Young bought the cemetery property and deeded it to their heirs to protect and preserve this resting place of many early Texas pioneers, which remains a reminder of the area's early history.