1858-01 Annual Report of the Trustees of the Mount Auburn Cemetery, Together with the Reports of the Treasurer and Superintendent. January, 1858.

ANNUAL REPORT

OF THE

TRUSTEES

OF THE

MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY,

TOGETHER WITH

OF THE

TREASURER AND SUPERINTENDENT.

JANUARY, 1858.

BOSTON: 1858.

J.H. EASTBURN’S PRESS.

MOUNT AUBURN CEMETERY.

Since the last annual meeting a new and complete catalogue of the Proprietors of Mount Auburn Cemetery has been published, having been corrected from former editions with much labor and care on the part of the Secretary. To this catalogue has been prefixed a code of by-laws compiled and digested from the standing votes of the Trustees, with such amendments as were considered necessary.

Since the adoption of this code, it has been found that the duties therein required of the Superintendent were too onerous and diversified to be properly performed by one individual. A new office has therefore been created, and a new by-law introduced, providing for the appointment, and prescribing the duties and powers of a Gardener to the Cemetery. Ihe person so appointed is to take charge of and keep in repair the lots of such proprietors as may apply to him for that service, and on such terms as may be agreed on between the parties; he is also to keep for sale, at some convenient place designated by the Trustees, shrubs, trees, and flowers, and be ready to furnish, plant, or cultivate the same at his own expense, and at such price and remuneration as may be agreed on with the purchasers. This plan, which costs nothing to the Corporation, has been found to work well in other cemeteries where it has been tried.

The Trustees have appointed to this office Mr. Anthony Apple, an experienced gardener, and have leased:to him a piece of ground nearly opposite the gate, on which he has erected a conservatory and commenced a garden. ‘The destruction of his first green-house by fire, and

3 the consequent expense of rebuilding it, entitles him to the charitable consideration of those who may be likely to need his services.

The experiment made last year of transplanting some dozens of large trees in the neighborhood of the gate, has proved eminently successful, not one of them having been lost or injured by the operation. A somewhat similar alteration is now in progress on the westerly side of the gate.

By the liberality of one of the proprietors, the sum of one thousand dollars has been expended in grading, stoning, and otherwise improving the border of Meadow pond. An open space of two thousand square feet, inclosing the fountain at the head of the pond, is to be forever kept open for ornamental purposes. It is hoped that other proprietors may be induced to follow so praiseworthy an example. The Trustees have voted to appropriate to a similar repair of Forest pond, all sums which may be derived from the sale of intermediate spaces between lots bordering on this pond. Some of the abuttors have already subscribed to this object, and it is believed that others will be disposed to promote an object beneficial to themselves and to the corporation.

The statues expected from Italy and intended to decorate the interior of the chapel, have not yet arrived. That of Gov. Winthrop by Mr. Greenough, is announced as completed in Florence, and may be expected here in the Spring or sooner. Mr. Crawford’s statue of James Otis has been unhappily delayed by the death of that distinguished and lamented artist. Letters from his representatives, however, express the belief that it is already completed in Rome, and will be forwarded in the course of the Spring. The fourth statue, that of John Adams, was shipped from Leghorn about the first of September, in the Oxford, a vessel reported as deserted at sea, and probably lost. The amount which would have been due on the delivery of this statue, was insured by the sculptor, Mr. Rogers, who is confident of being able to execute a duplicate from the model in the course of another year. When these works are completed, and in their places, the Corporation will have acquired a valuable and most appropriate embellishment, giving them precedence over all other cemeteries in this country, at an expense not exceeding three per cent. of the estimated gross outlay of Mount Auburn, or six per cent. of the expenditures up to the present time.

Among the auspicious events of the last year is the commencement of a permanent fund, provided for the support and preservation of the cem-

4

etery, after the receipts from land sales shall have ceased. first instalment of three thousand five hundred and ten dollars has been paid by the Treasurer to the Massachusetts Hospital Life Insurance Company, in pursuance of a vote of the Trustees, by which it is required that one-fifth part of the gross proceeds of sales of land, shall be annually deposited with said company, until the whole sum thus deposited, together with its accumulations of interest, shall amount to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The farther to insure the stability of this investment, the Trustees have caused to be inserted in every new deed of conveyance a covenant binding the Corporation to the preservation and increase of this permanent fund, so that no future Board of Trustees will have the power to misapply or to divert any part of it from its legitimate destination.

By the Treasurer’s report it will be seen that the receipts of the last year have considerably exceeded those of the previous year, while the expenditures have been less; showing that the Trustees have thus far been able to keep up the same prudent policy which has heretofore governed their movements.

For the Trustees. JACOB BIGELOW, President.

Boston, Fesruary 1, 1858.

5 TREASURER’S REPORT For THE 26TH YEAR, 1857. He has received as follows, viz:

From income of Investments, - - - - 1,131.98 From sales of Lots 20,598.68 From simdry parties, for Deeds 121.00 For sale of 20 shares National Insurance Co. 1,897.50 From sale of 20 shares Hamilton Bank 2,355.00 From sale of 10 shares Shawnut 1,072.50 From Jonathan Mann, Superindent 1,151.70 $27,828.36 He has made payments as follows, viz: To the Mass. Horticultural Society, for their proportion of sales 1856 and 1857, $4,085.67 $4,799.67 9.335.34 For Expenses, say for Chapel, - 2,000.00 For Superintendent’s House and repairs on Stone House, - 657.57 For Contract for Filling, - - 350.00 For Catalogue, - - - - 502.65 For other general Expenses, ~ 1,474.51 4.984.78 For Interest and Taxes on Stone Farm, - - 784.92 For Notes payable on account Stone Farm, - 300.00 To Jonathan Mann, Superintendent, on acc’t, 4,003.36 For City of Boston Scrip and Interest on do., - 3,024.00 For account of Story Statue, - ~ - - 3.50 To Austin J. Coolidge, on account for Salary, - 350.00 For Geo. Wm. Bond, Treasurer for 2 1/2 per cent. on $20,598.68, - ~ - - 514.97 For Hospital Life Insurance Co., for Permanent Fund, - - ~ - - - 3,510.00 There was due him December 31, 1856, - 793.75 There now remains in his hands, 173.89 $27,828.36 GEO. WM. BOND, Treasurer. BOSTON, DECEMBER 31, 1857.