Mount Auburn Cemetery

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Commonwealth of Massachusetts

In the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five

An Act to incorporate the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn.

Section 1^st. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, That Joseph Story, John Davis, Jacob Bigelow, Isaac Parker, George Bond, and Charles P Curtis, together with such other persons as are Proprietors of Lots in the Cemetery at Mount Auburn in the towns of Cambridge and Watertown in the County of Middlesex, and who shall in writing signify their assent to this Act, their successors and assigns be, and they hereby are created a Corporation by the name of the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn, and they shall have all the powers and privileges contained in the Statute of the year One thousand eight hundred and thirty three. Chapter Eighty three.

Section 2^nd. Be it further enacted, That the said Corporation may take and hold in fee simple the Garden and Cemetery at Mount Auburn, now held by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, and any other lands adjacent thereto, not exceeding fifty acres in addition to said Garden and Cemetery upon the same trusts and for the same purposes and with the same powers and privileges as the said Massachusetts Horticultural Society now hold the same by virtue of the Statute of the year One thousand eight hundred and thirty one, Chapter Sixty nine; and may also take and hold any personal estate not exceeding in value, Fifty thousand Dollars to be applied to purposes connected with and appropriate to the objects of said establishment.

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And special meetings may be called by the Trustees in the same manner unless otherwise directed by the Bye Laws; or by the Secretary, in the same manner upon the written request of twenty members of the Corporation. At all meetings a quorum for business shall consist of not less than seven members; and any business may be transacted of which notice shall be given in the advertisements for the meeting and all questions shall be decided by a majority of the members present, and voting either in person or by proxy.

Section 6^th. Be it further enacted, That as soon as the said Corporation shall have received from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society a legal conveyance of the said Garden and Cemetery at Mount Auburn, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society shall cease to have any rights, powers and authorities, ^over the same, and all the rights, powers and authorities, trusts, immunities, and privileges conferred upon the said Society, and upon the Proprietors of Lots in the said Cemetery in and by virtue of the first section of the Statute of the year One thousand eight hundred and thirty one, Chapter Sixty nine, shall be transferred to and exercised by the Corporation created by this Act, and the same shall to all intents and purposes apply to the said Corporation, and all Proprietors of Lots in the said Cemetery with the same force and effect as if the same were herein specially enacted, and the said Corporation substituted for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society hereby.

Section 7^th. Be it further enacted, That any person who shall wilfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure or remove any tomb, monument, gravestone or other structure placed in the Cemetery aforesaid, or any fence, railing or other work for the protection or ornament of any tomb, monument, grave-stone or other structure aforesaid, or of any Cemetery lot, within the limits of the Garden & Cemetery aforesaid, or shall wilfully destroy, remove, cut, break or injure any tree, shrub, or plant within the limits of the said

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Section 9^th. Be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the said Corporation to take and hold any grant, donation or bequest of property upon trust to apply the income thereof under the direction of the Board of Trustees for the improvement or embellishment of the said Cemetery or of the Garden adjacent thereto, or of any buildings, structures or fences erected or to be erected upon the lands of the said Corporation or of any individual Proprietor of a Lot in the Cemetery, or for the repair, preservation, or renewal of any tomb, monument, grave-stone, fence or railing or other erection in or around any Cemetery Lot, or for the planting and cultivation of trees, shrubs, flowers or plants in or around any Cemetery Lot. according to the terms of such grant, donation or bequest, and the Supreme Judicial Court in this Commonwealth, or any other court therein having equity jurisdiction, shall have full power and jurisdiction, to compel the due performance of the said trusts or any of them, upon a bill filed by a Proprietor of any lot in the said Cemetery for that purpose.

Section 10^th. Be it further enacted as follows, First, That the present Proprietors of Lots in the said Cemetery, who shall become members of the Corporation created by this Act, shall thenceforth cease to be members of the said Horticultural Society, so far as their membership therein depends on their being Proprietors of Lots in the said Cemetery; Secondly, That the sales of the Cemetery Lots shall continue to be made as fast as it is practicable by the Corporation created by this Act at a price not less than the sum of Sixty dollars for every Lot containing three hundred square feet, and so in proportion for any greater or less quantity unless the said Horticultural Society and the Corporation created by this Act, shall mutually ^^agree to sell the same at a less price; Thirdly, That the proceeds of the first sales of such Lots after deducting the annual expenses of the Cemetery establishment, shall be applied to the extinguishment

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of the present debts due by the said Horticultural Society on account of the said Garden and Cemetery, and after the estinguishment of the said debts, the balance of the said proceeds and the proceeds of all future sales shall annually, on the first Monday in every year, be divided between the said Horticultural Society and the Corporation created by this Act in manner following, namely, fourteen hundred dollars shall be first deducted from the gross proceeds of the sales of Lots during the preceding year for the purpose of defraying the Superintendent's salary and other incidental expenses of the Cemetery establishment, and the residue of the said gross proceeds shall be divided between the said Horticultural Society, and the Corporation created by this act, as follows, namely, one fourth part thereof shall be received by and paid over to the said Horticultural Society on the first Monday of January of every year, and the remaining three fourth parts shall be retained and held by the Corporation created by this Act, to their own use forever. And if the sales of any year shall be less that fourteen hundred dollars, then the deficiency shall be a charge on the sales of the succeeding year or years; Fourthly, the money so received by the said Horticultural Society shall be forever devoted and applied by the said Society to the purposes of an experimental garden and to promote the art and science of Horticulture and for no other purpose. And the money so retained by the Corporation created by this act, shall be forever devoted and applied to the reservation, improvement, embellishment and enlargement of the said Cemetery and Garden, and the incidental expenses thereof, and for no other purpose whatsoever; Fifthly, a Committee of the said Horticultural Society, duly appointed for this purpose shall on the first Monday of January of every year, shall have a right to inspect and examine the books and accounts of the Treasurer or other officer acting as Treasurer of the Corporation created by this Act, as far as may be necessary

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the first annual meeting shall be held on the twenty fourth day of September next; - It was voted to adopt & pass the same as one of The By Laws of the Corporation. -

Trustees to procure Conveyance

It was then voted that the Trustees be authorized to procure & accept a conveyance from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, of all the lands & tenements & personal estate held by them in Cambridge & Watertown or elsewhere appertaining to the Garden & Cemetery of Mount Auburn

This meeting was then adjourned to Tuesday May 19, 1835 at 4 ^oclock P.M. at the Horticultural Room, in Cornhill, Boston.

Attest Charles P. Curtis, Secretary

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Suffolk SS. On the twenty third day of April A.D. 1835, personally appeared Benjamin R. Curtis and made oath that he would faithfully discharge the duties of Secretary of the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn -- Before me

Charles P. Curtis Justice of the Peace