This family cemetery began when Charles Metcalfe and his sister, Fannie Metcalfe Spence, buried their mother, younger sister, and uncle, victims of the flood of 1882 that destroyed the town of Ben Ficklin. Penrose Metcalfe, the only surviving child of Charles, watched over the cemetery after his father died in 1941 until his own death in 1970.
When Penrose died, his cousin, Margie Simms, became the guardian of the family cemetery where she served until her death in 2005. Though few burials occurred here during her tenure, Margie carried on the family tradition of never charging any family for a burial plot. Margie enjoyed sharing family history and served in efforts to preserve history at Fort Concho as a volunteer docent and in the Chapter of the Victory Study Club and as a guest speaker on the subject of Ben Ficklin and the Metcalfe-Taylor-Spence Families.
Upon Margie’s death, her four children Charles Simms, Robert Simms, James Simms, and Margie Kiser became keepers of the cemetery until 2020 when they donated the property to the Metcalfe-Spence Cemetery Historical Preservation Foundation.