An epidemic of diphtheria struck the German settlement of Steinerville, established in 1849, and in 1872 two children of August and Thekla Spitzer died and were buried here by their parents: ten-year-old Henry and six-year-old Robert. In May 1872, the Spitzers deeded the land to the trustees of the new school and evangelic German church of the German community of Steinerville, which was later renamed Coletoville for nearby Coleto Creek. Both Thekla and August Spitzer are buried in the cemetery, and the oldest birth dates recorded are those of Eva Voigt and Joseph Weiser, both born in 1812. Several veterans of major American and international conflicts are interred here. In 1970, the church, then called Martin Luther Lutheran Church, deeded the cemetery land to the Coletoville Cemetery Association, making the church and cemetery separate institutions for the first time, though community members of all faiths have traditionally been buried here. Burial sites are marked in rows and spaces rather than plots, graves are arranged in consecutive order by date, many of the oldest markers were originally made of sandstone, and a 1997 count found 623 marked and 78 unmarked graves.