John Martin, the community’s first postmaster submitted a possessive variation of his first name on the post office application.
Early historical information is unavailable but county historians in Stephenville undoubtedly know something. The first population figures come from the 1940 census when fifty residents were counted.
Somewhere along the line, Johnsville’s post office closed and by 1980 the estimated population was a mere twenty-five. That same number has been used through 2000. Here is the Historical Marker Text:
Johnsville Cemetery
The community of Johnsville, settled before 1860, was named for John Z. Martin when he was appointed first postmaster in 1901. Once a thriving village on the main road from Stephenville to Glen Rose, Johnsville consisted of general stores, a cotton gin, blacksmith shop, fraternal lodges, a school, a church, and numerous homes. The oldest graves in Johnsville Cemetery are those of the two infant children of Curtis and Annie (Cox) Burks and of W. B. and Mary (Smith) Cox. The children are believed to have died in 1907 and 1910. In 1910 Edward and Martha (Shaw) Cox sold 1.5 acres of land adjoining the Christian church for use as a cemetery. The church was then almost fifteen years old.
Pioneers from all walks of life settled in the area; teachers, Masons, blacksmiths, merchants, soldiers, preachers, farmers, mothers, fathers, children, and many others created the community known as Johnsville. Many of them and their descendants were interred here in the Johnsville Cemetery.
In 1948 the Johnsville School was consolidated with schools in Pony Creek and Chalk Mountain to form the Three Way School District. By 1997, only the Church of Christ (formerly called the Christian Church) and the cemetery remained as a record of the area's pioneer settlement. The Johnsville Cemetery continues to serve the area.