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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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

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Towns of Cambridge & Watertown, in the County of Middlesex, heretofore known as the Cemetery & Experimental Garden at Mount Auburn, together with all Lands appurtenant to the same in which the Grantors have any interest, property or estate; - The said premises being estimated to contain in the whole about one hundred & ten acres, & for a more particular description of which reference is made to the Deeds of Rhoda Crafts, George W. Brimmer, Joel Stone, David Stone, David Stone Guardian Columbus J. Stone, Melinda Stone, William M. Poweroy & wife, Ann Cutter, generally to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, recorded in the Registry of Deed for the County of Middlesex.

To have & to hold the afore granted Premises unto the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn & to their successors & assigned forever, upon the trusts, & for the uses & purposes mentioned & expressed in the Act of the Legislature entitled, "An Act to incorporate the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn." And it is hereby understood & agreed between the par ties that conveyance is made expressly upon the following fundamental stipulations, which are to be mutually obligatory & binding upon the parties, as contained in the tenth section of the said Act incorporating the said Proprietors of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn. First, that the present Proprietors of Lots in the said Cemetery, who shall become members of the Corporation created by the said act, shall thenceforth cease to be members of the Horticultural Society aforesaid,

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Suitable granite foundation can be erected of a suitable heighth on the whole length of the Cemetery fronting on the Cambridge & Watertown public Highway for an expense not exceeding 17000 $ -

Hedge.

The other three Sides of the Cemetery the Committee propose should be enlosed by a hedge fence of Buck Thorn or some other Shrub thickly planted within & near^^to the present wooden fence This would in a few years with suitable care constitute ______ a substantial & beautiful enclosure; & might be done an an expense not exceeding 1000$

Draining

(2) As to draining the grounds & obtaining a Supply of pure water - the various ponds may be made to communicate with each other, & the stagnant water be drawn off the same by Suitable ditches, so as ultimately to pass through the low grounds into Charles River - The ponds can then be excavated & the materials obtained therefrom applied to fertilize the grounds on the borders of the Cemetery, & good gravel bottoms be substituted in the ponds, or if deemed necessary or expedient, the ponds can be partially filled up or narrowed in their area - The committee estimate the expense of accomplishing this part of the plan as not exceeding 3000$

Water

In respect to the conveying of pure water into the grounds, the committee are aware of some difficulty - the most probably Source of Supply is from Fresh Pond by means of an Apparatus to raise the water above the level of the Ponds in the Cemetery & then to conduct it through the intermediate lands

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meet the time when they can no longer expect to realize any new funds - That time however must be distant; & the Lots now on hand are more than Sufficient to meet all the future expenditures which may be required for any of the purposes to which they have referred.

All which is respectfully Submitted by the Commitee

Joseph Story Chairman

Voted. To accept the above report

Gateway.

Voted. To accept the gateway provided it shall be satisfactory to the Com^ee on lots.

Sale of Stocks

Voted That the Com^ee on finance be authorized to make such sales of stocks as they may deem necessary to pay for the gateway & fence belonging thereto

Fence.

Voted. That the Com^ee on Lots - be authorized to contract for the erection of a fence on the line of the Cemetery of Mount Auburn, on the highway between Cambridge & Watertown of Iron with Stone curb or base, of Similar construction & character with that portion of fence now erected, vary in such particulars as the com^ee see fit - provided the same can be done at an expense not exceeding $1500 - & to be completed within three years from the time of making the contract. -

Draining.

Voted. That the Com^ee on lots be authorized to expend a sum not exceeding three thousand dollars to drain