USA > New York > New York City > Exposition of the plan and objects of the Green-Wood Cemetery : an incorporated trust, chartered by the Legislature of the State of New York > Part 3
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* * Signed,
A. G. HAMMOND, S. CHEEVER,
State Commissioners.
J. TIFFANY,
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To the Honourable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of New York: The MEMORIAL of the undersigned, a Committee of the Directors of the Green-wood Cemetery Company, and in behalf of said Company, respectfully sheweth,
THAT in pusuance of a Law passed at the last session of the Legislature, to wit: On the 18th day of April 1838, a Joint Stock
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Company has been formed, and organized, under the above title, for the purpose of laying out and constructing, on the most approved plan, a Rural Cemetery in the city of Brooklyn .- That after ma- ture deliberation, and with the consent of the Common Council duly obtained, its location has been fixed, and a tract of two hun- dred acres of land secured in a very eligible situation in the 8th ward of said city, the boundaries of which have been designated on the city map, under the authority of the commissioners : and mea- sures are already in progress for improving and embellishing it, in conformity with the design and purpose for which the company was incorporated.
In the progress of these incipient steps, however, and with a view to the complete success of an undertaking in which one of the high- est interests of humanity is intended to be subserved, the under- signed have become aware of the importance of certain legal pro- visions which were not contemplated in the original act of incorpo- ration, and which they now beg leave most respectfully to submit to the consideration of the Honorable, the Legislature.
In the first place, the principle of a Joint Stock Company, involv- ing, as it necessarily does, the idea of private and individual profit, and in the present instance, the conflicting interests of lot-holders and stock-holders in the premises, appears not in harmony with an undertaking which, in its nature and aim is eminently and essen- tially philanthropic. Your memorialists were not wholly unaware of this consideration in drawing up their original act, but they were also under an impression that their object could not be accomplished in any other way. This they have since discovered to be an error, and as the stockholders are willing to relinquish their stock upon equitable principles, the undersigned, in behalf of the Board of Di- rectors, respectfully ask leave to receive and cancel it, and to man- age the concern thenceforth as an Incorporated Trust. The con- flicting interests alluded to will thus be done away-the undertaking in all respects placed upon a more proper footing, and the unqualified confidence of the community insured to an institution, from which even the appearance of individual profit is entirely excluded.
In moving this amendment, your memorialists are also instructed to request that your Honorable Bodies will be pleased to confer such addi- tional powers for the preservation of the grounds, and for the protec- tion of the tombs, monuments, graves, and shrubbery therein, as have been found necessary in other similar undertakings elsewhere. And finally as the Cemetery under these several provisions, will become purely and exclusively a benevolent institution, and as it is of the utmost importance that the public mind should be assured of the in- violability of the premises in every possible event, even against legal process, we trust your Honors will perceive the reasonableness of exempting them from taxation.
In presenting these several points to the attention of an enlight- ened Legislature, your memorialists cannot feel it necessary to ac- company them with any new arguments of a general nature, on the subject to which they relate. In all ages, and in every country, even barbarous tribes acknowledge, by elaborate funeral rites, and in many other ways, the duty of the living to honor and protect the remains and memory of the dead. In the city of New York, the
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performance of this duty has been attended with peculiar difficulties ; extraordinary means are necessary-Legislative aid, therefore, indis- pensable,-and in seeking that aid, respectfully, at the hands of your Honorable Bodies, the undersigned entertain no fear that their ap- plication will be unheeded.
And as in duty bound, g.c., fc.
D. B. DOUGLASS, ' HENRY E. PIERREPONT, And others, Committee.
G. Extract from the Minutes of the Common Council of Brooklyn,- meeting March 11th, 1839.
The subject of the Green-wood Cemetery was brought forward by his honor the Mayor, who stated that the bill now before the Legislature of this State, for the incorporation of that association, contained a provision exempting the Cemetery from taxation, and that our representatives in the Legislature wished for an expression of the views and wishes of the Common Council, on that subject.
After full consideration, alderman Underhill offered the following resolution, which on motion, was adopted by a vote of the Board, viz: " Resolved, that the tract of land known by the name of the Green- wood Cemetery, in the opinion of this Common Council, should be exempted from taxation so long as it is used as a place of burial."
I hereby certify, that the foregoing extract included within the marks of quotation, is copied from the minutes of the Common Council of the city of Brooklyn.
THEODORE EAMES, Clerk. Dated the 10th day of Sept., 1839.
H. AN ACT TO ALTER AND AMEND "AN ACT TO INCOR- PORATE THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY."
PASSED APRIL 11, 1839.
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows :
SECTION 1. It shall be lawful for the stockholders of the said " The Green-wood Cemetery," to surrender and extinguish their stock in such manner as the board of directors shall prescribe ; and all persons who are and hereafter shall become proprietors of lots or parcels of ground conveyed to them by the said corporation, shall become members of the said body corporate.
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SEC. 2. The estate, property and affairs of the said corporation shall be managed by fifteen trustees, a majority of whom shall con- stitute a quorum capable of doing business. 'T'he persons now con- stituting the board of directors, shall be the first trustees, and shall, as soon as may be after the passage of this act, organize themselves into three equal classes. The first class, so organized, shall go out of office, and successors, being lot proprietors, be chosen on the first Monday of December, one thousand, eight hundred and forty ; the second, in like manner, on the first Monday of December, one thou- sand eight hundred and forty-two; and the third, in like manner, on the first Monday of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty- four; and thenceforward, biennially, one class, in order, shall go out of office, and successors, being lot proprietors, be chosen ; provided, that the members of the several classes shall be re-eligible and re- tain their stations until their successors are chosen. Notice of such elections shall be given in one or more newspapers published in the cities of New York or Brooklyn, at least fourteen days previous to the time of holding the same. The election shall be by ballot, and every proprietor of a lot or parcel of ground of a size not less than three hundred square feet, or if there be more than one proprietor of any such lot or parcel, then such one as the proprietors of such orig- inal lot for the time being, or a majority of them, shall designate to represent such lot or parcel at such election, shall have, either in per- son or by proxy, one vote for each such lot or parcel; and the five persons, being lot proprietors, having a majority of all the votes giv- en at such election, shall be declared duly elected trustees. The trustees of the said corporation shall hereafter, in all cases, be cho- sen from among the lot proprietors, and shall have power to fill any vacancy in their number that may occur during the period for which they hold their office.
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SEC. 3. An annual meeting of the said corporation shall be hol- den at such time and place as the by-laws shall direct; notice where- of shall be given in like manner above mentioned, seven days at least before the time of meeting. The trustees shall make report to the corporation at such annual meeting, of their doings, and of the management and condition and fiscal concerns of the corporation.
SEC. 4. All lots or parcels of ground when conveyed and desig- nated and numbered as lots by the said corporation, shall be indivis- ible, but may afterwards be held and owned in undivided shares ; one half at least of the proceeds of all sales made by the said cor- poration, shall be first applied to the payment of the purchase money of the land acquired by the said corporation, and the residue thereof shall be applied to preserving, improving and embellishing the said land as a cemetery or burial ground, and to the incidental expenses of the cemetery establishment; and after payment of such purchase money, the proceeds of all future sales shall be applied to the preserva- tion, improvement and embellishment of the said cemetery and inci- dental expenses thereof, and to no other purpose whatsoever.
SEC. 5. Any person who shall wilfully destroy, mutilate, deface, in- jure or remove, any tomb. monument, or grave stone, or other structure placed in the cemetery aforesaid, or any fence, railing, or other work for the protection or ornament of the said cemetery, or of any tomb, monument or grave stone, or other structure aforesaid, or of any
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cemetery lot within the cemetery aforesaid; or shall wilfully de- stroy, cut, break, or injure any tree, shrub, or plant, within the limits of the said cemetery, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace, or other court of competent jurisdiction within the county of Kings, be pun- ished by a fine not less than five dollars, nor more than fifty dollars, according to the nature and aggravation of the offence; and such offender shall also be liable, in an action of trespass to be brought against him in any court of competent jurisdiction, in the name of the said corporation, to pay all such damages as shall have been occa- sioned by his unlawful act or acts; which money, when recovered, shall be applied by the said corporation, under the direction of the board of trustees, to the reparation and restoration of the property destroyed or injured as above; and members of the said corporation shall be competent witnesses in such suits.
SEC. 6. The said corporation may take and hold any grant, dona- tion, or b. quest of property upon trust, to apply the same or the income thereof, under the direction of the board of trustees, for the im- provement or embellishment of the said cemetery, or for the erection, repair, preservation or renewal of any tomb, monument or grave stone, fence, railing, or other erection, or for the planting and culti- vation of trees, shrubs, flowers, or plants, in or around any cemetery lot, or for improving the said premises in any other manner or form consistent with the design and purposes of this act, according to the terms of such grant, donation, or bequest.
SEC. 7. The said cemetery shall be and hereby is declared ex- empted from all public taxes, so long as the same shall remain dedi- cated to the purposes of a cemetery.
SEC. 8. Every provision in the charter hereby altered and amended, which is inconsistent with the provisions of this act, is hereby re- pealed.
STATE OF NEW YORK, SECRETARY'S OFFICE.
I have compared the preceding printed copy with an ori- ginal law of this State deposited in this office, and do certify that the same is a correct transcript therefrom, and of the whole of said originals (Sec. 2, line 2, the words "a majority"-line 19, the words " proprietors of such original lot for the time being, or a majority of them" being interlined and the words "Board of Trustees for the time being," obliterated, and at line 2 "five" obliterated-Section 5, line 6, the word "remove" obliterated.)
JOHN C. SPENCER,
Secretary of State.
Albany, April 12th, 1839.
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TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION
TO CEMETERY LOTS IN THE GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY,
AT THE
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First opening of the Books, commencing Sept. 23, 1839.
1. Each single Lot having a clear area of 300 square feet, with a margin of one foot, additional, all round, for the erection of its enclosure, shall be valued at one hundred dollars, which is to cover the privilege of selection, accord- ing to the rule hereinafter laid down, and all incidental expenses anterior to the delivery of the deed, and Lots of fractional dimensions greater than 300 feet, shall be charged at the same rate in proportion.
2. Quadruple Lots shall consist of four single Lots laid out in a regular quadrangle, with their margins included, or of an equivalent area in some other way-the contiguous margins of the Lots being always considered as part in com- mon with the Lots to which they belong, and so included in the enclosure. Every person subscribing for four Lots, may at his option, take a quadruple Lot so laid out.
3. The premises shall be opened and prepared for the selection of Lots on the first of November, or as soon there- after as circumstances permit, of which public notice shall be given, and thereafter the Books of Subscription shall be closed until all the parties then having subscribed shall bave selected their Lots on the ground.
4. The precedence of choice shall be regulated among the subscribers by Lot (Lottery), in the drawing of which 5
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