Mount Auburn Cemetery

67

Boston, Oct.^r 30, 1862

Mrs. James Burbank, New Orleans, La.

Dear Madam, Mr James Hall, of Boston, informs me that you wish to sell the lot in Mount Auburn Cemetery - No 2660 - belonging to the estate of your late husband, and that you have forwarded him written authority for that purpose.

I suppose you were not aware that the lots in our Cemetery are declared by the Charter of the Corporation to the real estate; and as such they descend, upon the death of the proprietor, to his heirs at law - that is the children. A widow has dower or third of the husband's real estate for life. but we never regard the dower in a lot in the Cemetery.

The case then is, as I understand, that your children are all minors, and cannot convey any real estate by which they will be bound when they come to their majority; and you cannot convey it for them.-

The only course then that can be pursued is to apply to the Probate Court in the County where the estate is situated for the appointment of a guardian to the children: and that guardian must be an inhabitant of Massachusetts. He then applies to the Court for leave to sell the estate, which leave being granted, he can convey the lot by a deed that will be valid and forever bind their heirs. Unless this course is pusued, it will not be easy to find a purchaser.