Prussian born Johann Joachim Giesenschlag (1817-80), his wife Anna (Schulze), and their children came to Texas in 1855. Settling first in Washington County, they moved to Burleson County in the 1870s and bought over 1,000 acres here. Giesenschlag set aside this tract for a family cemetery, and was the first to be interred here. In 1883 members of his family donated the property to the Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church at Mound Prairie. For many years a schoolhouse was located on former Giesenschlag land adjacent to this pioneer cemetery.