Mount Auburn Cemetery

Nov. 24 [186]5

John T. Heard Esq

Dear Sir,

I will present your paper-extract from will of Mrs Gurney -- to the Trustees, if you desire, but it is nothing on which they can act.

As I suggested to you, the only feasible plan I can see (if it can be accomplished, of which I am by no means certain) is to have the parties release enough from the income to enable you to make a perpetual contract with our Corporation for the care of the lot & get the S.J. Court to decree accordingly.

Then the subject comes up in shape for action by our board. Now they have no power.

Very Resp.y yrs.

A.J. Coolidge Sec.y

Nov^r 24, [186]5

H.D. Bacon Esq San Francisco, Cal.

Dear Sir,

Your favor of Oct 20^th from St. Louis respecting the disposition which Mrs Sophia L.B. Jones is alleged to have made in her will of lot no. 1131 in Mt Auburn was duly rec^d.

In reply, I have to say that Mrs Jones was on the 5^th of March 1860, upon her own request designated to "represent" said lot under the Charter, an extract from which I send you. If Mr Thos. Jones devised this lot to his wife by will, it was hers to convey or devise again: but as she represents herself to be "administratrix" in the petition for the abovementioned designation, I can only infer that Mrs Jones left no will.

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The consequence of which is -- as lots in our Cemetery are declared in the Charter to be real estate, the lot descended to the next of kin of Thomas Jones. If he left more than one such next of kin, it would fall to them in common, and it would be proper for one of them to be designated to represent it. If the nephew alluded to was the only heir, it would be inherited by him. Mrs Jones' will cannot affect the title -- it would go as I have said. But if there are others, and they are desirous of carrying out her request, they can do so by releasing to Geo. H. Jones. I am sorry the subject was not better understood by Mrs J., but it cannot be helped now. If you desire, I will do what I can to bring about her wishes by preparing any such conveyance, if you can reach the parties.

Truly yours,

A.J. Coolidge Secretary

Nov.^r 25, [186]5

W^m L. Coggswell Esq 27 E. 26^th St., New York,

Dear Sir,

I have obtained a report upon the condition of your lot standing in the name of Sophia M. Coggswell no. 1142, and have laid the same before the Committee on Lots: and they have instructed me to notify you that the Corporation will contract for the perpetual repair of your lot on the payment of three hundred dollars. I expect to pass through your City next Tuesday merely on absence for the week, but I will attend to any request you have to make upon my return. I will prepare the proper papers whenever you are ready.

Very Resp.y yours

A.J. Coolidge Sec.y

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125

Lot 927

Lot of Simon Wilkinson deceased (927), Andrew J. Wilkinson, of Boston, eldest son of deceased

Lot 931

Lot of Preston Shepard deceased (931), Sarah B. Hyde, of Boston, daughter of said deceased.

Lot 1030

Lot of Pelham W. Warren, deceased (1030), Charles H. Warren, of Boston, brother of said deceased

Lot 1043

Lot of Nathaniel Howard, deceased (1043), Olive Howard of Marlborough, widow of deceased

Lot 1114

Lot of Erastus Coleman, deceased (1114), Virginia F. Coleman, of Baltimore, ^^Md., widow of deceased.

Lot 1131

Lot of Thomas Jones, deceased (1131), Sophia L. B. Jones, of Boston, widow of deceased

Lot 1143

Lot of John Tarbell, deceased (1143), John P. Tarbell, of Boston, eldest son of deceased.

Lot 1192

Lot of Samuel J Beals, deceased (1192), Susan B. Beals, Providence R. I., widow.

Lot 1214

Lot of Benjamin Rand, deceased (1214), Henry C. Rand, of Cambridge, only son of deceased

Lot 1244

Lot of George Read, deceased (1244), Mrs Paul Willard, of Roxbury, daughter of deceased.