Williamson Petty (1820-1867), a Sulphur River ferryman, donated land for this cemetery from a claim he settled in 1850. Col. John C. Douglass (1818-63), from Georgia, bought in 1855 all of the Petty claim not previously reserved for school and church, and the cemetery took its name from his town of Douglassville. The earliest legible stone, dated 1859, marks the grave of Mrs. Henrietta Cook and her infant twins. Additional land was acquired in 1928 and 1939, and the cemetery has about 400 graves and a governing association.