According to local oral tradition, this cemetery was named for John Carson, who once owned the adjacent land. Some sources say one grave was in existence before 1842; others maintain the first graves date to an 1842 Indian raid at the nearby home of Dr. and Mrs. W. M. Hunter. The three victims of the raid were Mrs. Minerva Hunter, her young daughter Elizabeth, and an African American maid whose name is unknown. By 1878, the cemetery trustees acquired title to the land and they later added more acreage. Among those buried here are land donors Mr. & Mrs. W. E. Alderson, Mr. & Mrs. W. R. Luton, and T. M. Newell. Minerva Hunter's grave was marked in 1942, a century after her death. (1974, 1998)