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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to ascertain the sales of Lots of the preceding year.

Section 11^th. Be it further enacted, that any three or more of the persons named in this Act shall have authority to call the first meeting of the said Corporation by an advertisement in one or more newspapers, printed in the City of Boston, seven days at least before the time of holding such meeting, and specifying the time and place thereof. And all Proprietors of Lots, who shall before, at or during the time of holding such meeting, by writing assent to this act shall be entitled to vote in person or by proxy at the said first meeting. And at such meeting or any adjournment thereof, any elections maybe had, and any business done, which are herein authorized to be had and done at an annual meeting, although the same may not be specified in the notice for the said meeting. And the first Board of Trustees, chosen at the said meeting shall continue in Office until the annual meeting of the said Corporation next ensuring their choice, and until another Board are chosen in the their stead in pursuance of this Act.

Section 12^th. Be it further enacted, That the said Cemetery shall be and hereby is declared exempted from all public taxes, so long as the same shall remain dedicated to the purposes of a Cemetery.

House of Rep^s March 27. 1835 Passed to be enacted (signed) Julius Rockwell Speaker

March 31 1835 Approved (signed) Samuel T Armstrong.

In Senate March 28 1835 Passed to be enacted (signed) George Bliss President

A copy att (signed) Edw D Rangs Secretary of the Commonwealth

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Proprietors. Special. 1851.

Pursuant to the foregoing notice which was published in the Boston Daily Advertiser ^ ^{a newspaper printed in Boston} more than seven days in succession before the said time of meeting, the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn met at the time and place designated in said notice. A quorum having assembled the President Dr. Bigelow took the chair. The President stated the object of this special meeting, and called upon the Secretary to produce a certified copy of the Act referred to in the notice. The Secretary did so, and read the same aloud. The following is a copy -

Additional Act. Copy of

Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

An Act in addition to "An Act to incorporate the proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn"

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same; as follows -

The corporation known as the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn, may purchase and hold in fee sim- ple or otherwise, any real estate, or any interest in any real estate, situate and lying in the towns of Cambridge and Watertown, in the County of Middlesex anything in the Act of this Legislature passed March thirty first A.D. eighteen hundred and thirty five entitled "An Act to incorporate the proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn" to the contrary notwithstanding; Provided always , that such real estate by the said corporation so purchased holden and possessed as aforesaid, under the provisions of

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this act, shall not at any one time exceed one hundred acres in extent, in addition to whatever real estate the said corporation now holds, or is entitled to hold, by virtue of the act to which this act is in addition as aforesaid.

House of Representatives, May 2. 1850. Passed to be enacted. Ensign H. Kellogg Speaker.

In Senate May 2. 1850. Passed to be enacted. Marshall P. Wilder, President. May 3. 1850. Approved.

Geo. N. Briggs. Secretary's office, Boston May 23^rd 1850

I certify the foregoing to be a true copy of the original act.

Seal of State L.S. [round seal, words in center]

W^m Tufts. Deputy Secretary of } the Commonwealth } on motion of J.J. Dixwell Esquire -

Act. Accepted.

Voted _ unanimously - That this Corporation do accept the Act passed by the Legislature of this Commonwealth ^^{May 3. 1850} entitled "An Act in addition to an Act to incorporate the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn.".

The meeting then dissolved A true record. Attest. Henry M. Parker Secretary.

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Trustees _ Feby. 6, 1869 _

Report on Amend^t of Charter continued _

different times, been unsuccessfully made to supersede the existing board, by a new and less experienced body.

It is apprehended by many proprietors that the funds designed for the preservation and improvement of the Cemetery have now become so large as to tempt the cupidity of improper and irresponsible persons. At the same time the largely increased number of proprietors affords a greater opportunity than heretofore for clandestine and revolutionary movements.

The Trustees, therefore, in obedience to the instructions of the Proprietors, at their annual meeting, report recommend:

That a petition be presented to the Legislature for an amendment to the act of incorporation to the following effect, to wit:

Act of Amendment _

____ An Act in addition to an Act to Incorporate the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn. ____

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, as follows:

Sect. 1. The authority conferred upon any cemetery corporation organized under the General Statutes (Chap 28. Sec 2) to take and hold so much real and personal estate as may be necessary for the objects of its organization, be and hereby is rested in the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn.

Sec 2. No Member of the said corporation shall in his individual right be entitled to more than one vote.