Oliver Hazard Perry Townsen, known as Uncle Perry, was the first Townsen to arrive in Texas in 1854, having been born in Carroll County, Tennessee, on October 20, 1826. A year later his nephew Lafayette Jasper arrived, followed by nephews Columbus Franklin and Julius Randolph Townsen in 1857. Drawn by the Lampasas River, the Townsen family used nearby creeks and tributaries to establish a mill on Mill Branch, and as more settlers came to the area and services became available, the community grew. The first burial in the cemetery was Robert Lee, the four-year-old firstborn son of Julius Randolph and Julia Francis Smith Townsen, on October 2, 1875. Other children of Julius and Julia were later buried there as well: Maggie, age 1, in 1879, and Phillip R., age 13, who was killed by Indians in 1895. Uncle Perry lost an arm in one mill accident and was killed in another on January 30, 1891, after which he was buried there. In 1891 the family sold the cemetery land to Lampasas County for use as a community cemetery. Of the almost 300 burials there, many are Townsen family members and other significant figures in the Adamsville community, including Jim M. Townsen, who served in the Texas Legislature, and H.C. Townsen, a county commissioner. The cemetery also contains dozens of military graves, as well as the grave of a Texas Ranger and those of several postmasters of the Townsen community, and it remains tied to the determination and perseverance of early pioneers in Adamsville and Lampasas County.