Wingate Woodley arrived in the Republic of Texas in 1839 and settled in Harrison County shortly after its formation that year. He received a letter from his father, William (b. 1787), in 1840, asking that he leave the lawlessness of this area and return to the safety of his former home in Georgia. Wingate remained, and in 1843 his father and mother, Telitha (McMichael), left Alabama with their large family and traveled by wagon train to Harrison county. the cemetery began with the burial of their young daughter, Harriett Ellen, here on their family farm in 1844. Woodley family records suggest that this site was set aside for cemetery use in William Woodley's 1844 will. The will was subsequently lost and never probated. The families of William and Telitha's eleven children and their descendants formed the nucleus of the former community of Arleston and account for most of the people buried here. this site, property of Woodley descendants for more than 100 years, was legally set aside by descendants of George and Caroline (Woodley) McJimsey in 1970. Buried here are veterans of conflicts ranging from the Creek Indian War (Alabama - 1836) to the Korean Conflict. The Woodley Cemetery Trust was established in 1986 to maintain this site.