This burial ground originally served the early residents of McClellan's Settlement, named for William B. McClellan who operated a store and gin here. A church, later called Bethany Christian Church, was organized at the McClellan Schoolhouse in 1876. Three years later a chapel was dedicated at this site. The church cemetery was first used in 1877 for the burial of George McCausland (b. 1863), brother of church benefactor Eleanor (McCausland) Barham. The congregation, renamed First Christian, moved to Burton (5 mi. S) in 1913, but continues to care for the Pioneer Cemetery.