USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Spring Grove cemetery: its history and improvements, with observations on ancient and modern places of sepulture > Part 5
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85
Act of Incorporation.
SEC. 2. Any person may become a member of this corporation by becoming the owner of one or more cemetery lots, as the same shall be laid off by the board of directors, and the ownership of a lot shall entitle the owner or owners thereof to one vote at all meetings; but no member shall have more than one vote.
SEC. 3. The affairs of this corporation shall be managed by a board of directors, consisting of nine persons, members of the corporation, to be elected by ballot, and receive a majority of the votes. The first election shall be held at a time and place to be desig- nated by the first ten persons above specifically named as corporators, who shall be commissioners for organ- izing the corporation; of which election the same notice shall be given as is herein provided for other elec- tions, and every person who shall have subscribed and paid for a lot shall be entitled to a vote at this election. Immediately after the first election the board shall be divided by lot into three classes, consisting of three each. The first class shall hold their office until the next annual meeting thereafter; the second class a year longer than the first, and the third class a year longer than the second; so that at each annual meeting after the first election there shall be three directors chosen, to serve for three years, and all vacancies previously existing shall be supplied. But, in case of failure to elect, those directors previously in office shall hold
86
Spring Grove Cemetery.
over until their successors are elected, and, in case of a vacancy occurring between any two annual meetings, the board shall have power to fill such vacancy until the next annual meeting. A quorum of the board for all purposes shall be five persons.
1
SEC. 4. The annual meeting for the election of directors shall be held on the first Monday of October in each year. But special meetings may be called by the president, at the request, in writing, of ten mem- bers ; of which, as well as of the annual meetings, ten days' notice shall be given by advertisement, in at least two of the daily papers published in the city of Cincin- nati.
SEC. 5. The board of directors shall, at their first meeting after each annual election, elect by ballot a president from their own body, and two persons from the members of the corporation, to act as secretary and treasurer. These officers shall hold their office for one year, and until their successors shall be appointed and qualified ; and the treasurer shall give bond, with surety to be approved by the board, in such sum as the by- laws shall direct, for the faithful performance of his duties.
SEC. 6. This corporation is authorized to purchase, or take by gift or devise, and hold land exempt from execution and from any appropriation to public pur- poses, for the sole purpose of a cemetery, not exceeding three hundred acres ; one hundred and sixty-seven acres
-
87
Act of Incorporation.
of which, such as shall be designated by the directors, shall be exempt from taxation, and the remainder shall be taxed as other lands, until the legislature shall other- wise direct. After paying for such land, all future receipts, whether from the sale of lots, from donations, or otherwise, shall be applied exclusively, under the direction of the board, to laying out, preserving, pro- tecting, and embellishing the cemetery, and the avenues leading thereto; and to paying the necessary expenses of the corporation. No debts shall be contracted in anticipation of future receipts, except for originally lay- ing out, enclosing, and embellishing the grounds and avenues, for which a debt, or debts, may be contracted not exceeding five thousand dollars in the whole, to be paid out of future receipts ; and no lots shall be sold by the corporation on credit, but the board of directors shall have power to appropriate lots for the interment of such meritorious persons, not members, as they may see proper.
SEC. 7. The original conveyance of lots from the corporation to individuals, shall be evidenced by a cer- tificate, signed by the president, and countersigned by the secretary, under the seal of the corporation, specify- ing that such a person is the owner of such a lot; and such certificate shall vest in the proprietor, his heirs and assigns, a right in fee simple to such lot, exempt from execution, attachment, taxation, or any other claim, lien or process whatever, for the sole purpose of
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
interment, under the regulations of the corporation ; and said certificates shall have the same force and effect as deeds duly executed in other cases, and may be recorded and certified. Copies thereof shall be evi- denced, as in other cases, and said lots or such portions thereof as may be prescribed by the board of directors, and with their assent, may be conveyed by deed in due form of law, for the sole purpose of interment as afore- said, but no original certificate shall be granted to any person who does not produce a receipt from the treas- urer that he has paid for his lot, in full ; nor shall any person be the proprietor of more than three lots at the same time, unless by the unanimous consent of the directors.
SEC. 8. For the purpose of convenient selection and description, the board of directors shall cause a plat to be made of the lots to be disposed of for interment, designating such lots by consecutive numbers, which plat shall be recorded on the books of the corporation. The original choice of lots between those who shall have subscribed and paid for them prior to the time of making the selection, shall be determined by lot, in such manner as the board of directors shall prescribe. And after the original selections have thus been deter- mined, before [future] purchasers may select from the lots not previously appropriated.
SEC. 9. The board of directors shall have power to enclose, improve, and adorn the grounds and avenues,
89
Act of Incorporation.
and to erect buildings for the general use of the corpo- ration, and to prescribe rules for enclosing, adorning, and erecting monuments in the cemetery lots; and to prohibit any use, division, improvement, or adornment of a lot which they may deem improper. And they shall make report of their doings to each annual meet- ing of the corporation.
SEC. 10. Any person who shall willfully destroy, mutilate, deface, injure, or remove any tomb, monu- ment, or gravestone, 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 gravestone, or other struc- ture aforesaid, or any cemetery lot within the cemetery aforesaid, or shall willfully destroy, cut, break, or injure any tree, shrub, or plant, within the limits of said cem- etery, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, before any court of competent jurisdiction, be punished by a fine of not less than five dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars, and by imprisonment in the county jail for a term of not less than one, nor more than thirty (30) days, according to the nature and aggravation of the offense, and such offender shall also be liable, in an action of trespass in the name of the said corporation, to pay all such damages as have been occasioned by his unlawful act or acts; which money, when recovered, shall be applied by the said corporation, under the direction of
.
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
the board of directors, to the reparation and restoration of the property destroyed or injured as above; and members of said corporation shall be competent wit- nesses in said suit.
SEC. II. This act shall be regarded as a public act, and shall take effect from and after its passage.
JOHN M. GALLAGHER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. DAVID CHAMBERS,
Speaker of the Senate. January 21, 1845.
An Act to amend the act entitled "An Act to incorporate the Proprietors of the Cemetery of Spring Grove," passed January 21, 1845.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That the Proprietors of the Ceme- tery of Spring Grove be, and they are hereby empow- ered to sell on such terms, for such purposes, and in such quantities as they shall deem proper, all that por- tion of the low grounds of the cemetery, within the following limits, to wit : commencing at the south-west corner of the cemetery grounds, in the center of the Hamilton road, running thence north-west with George Hill's line seven hundred feet, thence in a north-east-
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Act of Incorporation.
erly direction across said cemetery grounds, to the east line of said grounds in the center of the Winton road, to a point eight hundred feet north of the center of the Hamilton road, thence south, along the said Win- ton road to the center of the Hamilton road, eight hundred feet, thence in a south-westwardly direction, following the said Hamilton road to the place of beginning; and that the said proprietors be, and they are also hereby authorized, to sell all the lands belong- ing to them lying south of the Hamilton road, being twelve acres and a half acre, more or less.
SEC. 2. That the secretary, treasurer, and all other officers elected by the board of directors, shall hereafter hold their offices during the pleasure of the said board. And the secretary may be chosen hereafter from other persons than lot owners or stockholders.
SEC. 3. That all parts of the late act, to which this is an amendment, inconsistent with this act, be, and they are hereby repealed.
JOHN G. BRESLIN, Speaker of the House of Representatives. BREWSTER RANDALL, Speaker of the Senate. March 21, 1849.
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
An Act supplementary to an act entitled "An Act making pro- visions for the incorporation of cemetery associations," passed February 24, 1848. (1 S. & C. 225).
SECTION I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That it shall be lawful for the trustees or directors of any cemetery association which is now established in any county containing a city of the first class to purchase, or receive by gift or devise, such additional quantity of land adjacent to their grounds as said trustees or directors may, by resolution, deem necessary for the interest of such association ; and it shall be lawful for such trustees or directors, whenever they may deem any portion or portions of their land unsuited to burial purposes, in case no interments have been made therein, to sell such portion or portions so deemed unsuited to burial purposes, to private persons for private uses, but upon such sales, the land so sold shall be returned upon the grand duplicate of the county for taxation.
SEC. 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the passage thereof.
P. HITCHCOCK, Speaker pro tem. of the House of Representatives. ANDREW G. McBURNEY, President of the Senate. April 3, 1866.
93
Act of Incorpation.
An Act for the further protection of cemeteries in the State of Ohio.
SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That it shall be unlawful for any person to discharge any firearm unless authorized to do so by the trustees, upon or over the grounds of any cemetery which is now established, or may hereafter be established in this state, or within one hundred yards of such cemetery, unless upon the land of the owner thereof ; and any person so offending shall, upon con- viction before any court or magistrate having jurisdic- tion, be fined any sum not exceeding twenty dollars and costs, or be imprisoned in the jail of the county for the period of ten days, or shall be subjected to both of said punishments, in the discretion of the court or magis- trate.
SEC. 2. That it shall be lawful for the trustees, directors, or other officers of all organized cemeteries within this state, to appoint as many day and night watchmen of their grounds as they may deem expedient; and such watchmen, and also all of their superintend- ents, gardeners, and agents stationed on said grounds, are hereby authorized to take and subscribe, before any mayor or justice of the peace in the township where such cemeteries may be situated, an oath of office simi- lar to the oath required by law of constables, and upon
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
the taking of such oath, such watchmen, superintend- ents, gardeners, and agents shall have, exercise, and pos- sess all the powers of police officers within and adjacent to said cemetery grounds ; and they and each of them shall have power to arrest on view all persons engaged in violating the laws of this state in reference to the protection, care, and preservation of cemeteries, and of the trees, shrubbery, structures, and adornments therein, and to bring such persons so offending before a mayor or justice of the peace within such township, to be dealt with according to law.
SEC. 3. This act shall take effect from and after the day of the passage thereof.
ED. A. PARROTT, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ANDREW G. McBURNEY, President of the Senate. March 11, 1867.
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List of Officers.
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LIST OF OFFICERS OF SPRING GROVE CEME- TERY SINCE ITS CONSECRATION.
The names of the present officers are in italics.
PRESIDENT : Robert Buchanan.
SECRETARIES : S. C. Parkhurst, *- + James Pullan,* H. Daniels,+ John Lea,; E. J. Handy,+ D. G. A. Davenport,* Cyrus Davenport,+ S. B. Spear.
TREASURERS : G. Taylor,; D. H. Horne,* John Shillito.
SUPERINTENDENTS : H. Daniels, + D. Delaney, } H. Earnshaw,* A. Strauch.
DIRECTORS : J. C. Culbertson,} N. Wright,* D. Loring,+ R. G. Mitchel,* C. Stetson,* Griffin Tay- lor,+ William Neff,; A. H. Ernst,+ R. Buchanan, S. C. Parkhurst, + James Pullan,* D. H. Horne,* Wm Resor, G. K. Shoenberger, Wm. Orange,; K. Yardley, + John P. Foote,+ W. B. Smith,* Archibald Irwin, } Peter Neff,* Larz Anderson, T. H. Weasner, M. Werk, Henry Probasco, Robert Hosea, John Shillito.
* Resigned. ¡ Dead.
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
LAND PURCHASES.
List of the different land purchases, comprising the present area of the cemetery of Spring Grove, made by the proprietors since the year 1845 :
December 26, 1845, from Josiah Lawrence 166,7, acres of land, known as the "Garrard Farm ; " $16,000.
June 17, 1846, from Josiah Lawrence 12100 acres ; $10.
February 2, 1847, from Platt Evans 40 acres ; $4,000.
June 29, 1857, from Platt Evans 60100 acres ; $27, 173.70.
May 7, 1862, from Jacob Ernst the S. part of lot 6, section 23, containing 915 square feet ; $200.
March 15, 1866, from the widow and heirs of George Hill, deceased, 132} acres ; $130,000.
May 17, 1867, from E. L. Thomas 5} acres, front- ing the Gray road (north end of the cemetery) ; $15, 100.
October 29, 1867, from Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad Company 24 acres ; $6,200.
Giving a total area of 443 acres, at a cost of $198,683.70, or $448.49₺ per acre.
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Number of Burials.
TOTAL NUMBER OF BURIALS.
Statement of the total number of burials made in Spring Grove during each year from 1850 to 1867, including removals from other cemeteries.
Year.
Total No. Interm'ts. Removals.
No. of
Soldiers.
Year.
Total No. Interm'ts. Removals.
No. of
Soldiers.
1850
478
29
1859
947
325
185
440
38
1860
1,138
439
1852
546
60
1861
789
191
1853
797
407
1862
1,140
155
392
1854
603
232
1863
1,229
230
134
1855
739
151
1864
1,677
269
99
1856
566
126
1865
1,253
205
63
1857
634
178
1866
1,465
174
1858
1,120
589
1867
1,321
250
It will be observed that the removals from other cemeteries, during this period of time, have been very large, which is a substantial proof of the popular favor in which the grounds are held.
The average monthly receipts from sale of lots, during the year ending December 31, 1866 and 1867, were as follows : 1866, $5,641. 1867, $5,575-
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ppendix.
OBSERVATIONS ON ANCIENT AND MODERN PLACES OF SEPULTURE.
HE READER WHO FEELS CURIOUS TO STUDY THE history of art and civilization, from the princi- pal funereal monuments which time has spared, may consult, among the ancient writers, Her- odotus, Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo; among the moderns, Winckelmann, Murphy, Sir Thomas Brown, Denon, Clarke, Chateaubriand, Champollion, Belzoni, D'Agincourt, Humboldt, Washington Irving, etc.
It has often occurred to us that there is no better chronicle, from which may be deduced the ever-chang- ing condition and sentiment of man, than the forms
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
and conceptions which the sculptor and painter have in all countries produced, during the successive ages of the world. From these durable memorials of the past, upon which are impressed the sentiments, the passions, and the admiration of the age and the people that pro- duced them, an intelligent and acute eye may at once, not only discover the extent and progress of man's intellectual state, but may likewise obtain a very fair idea of his political and moral condition. Were it possible, indeed, to congregate into one grand ten.ple a complete collection of such productions of art, from the first hour that man, feeling his own short-lived con- nection with earth, attempted to immortalize his own actions and feelings, or those of his fellows around him, by allying his ingenuity to the more imperishable materials of nature, it would be, perhaps, not too much to say that such a temple would contain one of the truest records of the peculiar condition and the ruling passions of the human race. Upon the monu- ments of Egypt would we behold the first elements of learning and abstract science. On the crude remnant of Asiatic ingenuity would be seen the proofs of gen- erations governed by every species of superstition, which an untutored and unlearned imagination could conceive. On the splendid memorials of Greece would we behold the tokens of a people possessing taste, talent, imagination, and power, and the most striking proof of a national love of freedom. On the relics of
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Jewish Cemeteries
Rome would be traced the early struggles of its infant state, the pride and vigor which characterized its days of republicanism, the luxury, taste, and wealth which belonged to the era of its early emperors, and the declining and dying energies of a people who once conquered the world. In one word, such a temple would pour a new light on the past history of man, and strongly illuminate the protean features of a national character.
JEWISH CEMETERIES.
" From the most ancient and authentic annals of the world," says an eminent author, "it may be gath- ered that a respect for the dead was coeval with man's first social institutions." In the Bible how simply, yet how eloquently, is this feeling exemplified as exist- ing among the Jews, from the account given of Abra- ham's purchase of a sepulcher from the sons of Heth, narrated in the twenty-third chapter of Genesis, and which surpasses in simple pathos the most studied writings of modern days. To inter the remains of a fellow creature was, in the eyes of a Hebrew, an act of religious duty and of charity; and we are told, as a proceeding redounding highly to his honor, that, in the
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
face of the terrible denunciations of the brutal Senach- erib, the benevolent Tobit buried the bodies of many of his countrymen which were found lying behind the walls of Nineveh.
The immediate descendants of the patriarchs had no common place of burial. Each family had its own sepulcher, and these were either situated in fields, in gardens, or cut in the face of the rock. Hebrew tombs, with the exception of a few, particularly that raised by Solomon to his father, David, were plain. The dead bodies of the great bulk of the Jewish nation were permitted at once to mingle with their kindred dust. A few only, and those of persons of the highest distinction, were embalmed and shut up in sepulchral chambers.
Distinguished men were anciently buried on or near mountains. Upon Mount Hor Aaron died, and there he was buried by his brother. Upon Mount Nebo Moses cast his eyes over the land, and took his last farewell of the tribes he had successfully guided from "the land of bondage," and then departed this life in the bosom of a secluded valley, overshadowed by Pisgah's frowning cliffs. Upon Mount Ephraim the people of Israel interred the remains of Joshua, the servant of the Lord.
The present appearance of the valley of Jehosa- phat is a striking proof of the anxiety which the modern Jews have manifested respecting their final
105
Cemeteries of the Karaite Fews.
resting-place; it being considered one of the greatest blessings to close their days at Jerusalem, and deposit their bones in that venerable spot, supposed to be the scene of future judgment.
CEMETERIES OF THE KARAITE JEWS IN THE CRIMEA.
Mr. Edmund Spencer, in his "Travels in Cir- cassia," etc., thus describes the cemetery of the Jews of the Karaite sect, at the fortress-town of Tchoufout- Kali in the Crimea:
"We continued our promenade through the town to a steep flight of steps, leading down to what is termed as the valley of Jehosaphat, situated in a chasm of the rocks. This is the cemetery of the sect, resem- bling a beautiful grove, shaded by the dark foliage of a thousand trees, forming a striking contrast to the white marble tombs, and gloomy, beetling rocks that seem to threaten destruction at every step. Here several tombs were pointed out to me, bearing inscrip- tions in the Hebrew language so far back as the four- teenth century, thus proving the present tribe to have been in possession of the fortress, at least since that
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
period. The trees also exhibit an appearance of great age, and are held so sacred and so highly valued by the Karaites, that their former masters, the Kahns of Krim Tartary, when in want of funds, had only to threaten their extirpation in order to extort heavy contributions from the pious inhabitants.
"You can not imagine any thing more interesting or affecting than the cemeteries of the East, for whether appropriated as the last resting-place to Christian, Jew, or Moslem, they are equally the delightful promenade, the peaceful retreat, shaded by the weeping ash, the tall cypress, and wide-spreading plane. I never yet visited one without witnessing some proof of the reverential piety with which these people regard the dead. Here, the mourner was sorrowing over the loss of a dear rela- tive; there, adorning the tomb with flowers or some other memorial of affection. We can not, however, wonder that the silence of the cemetery is so frequently sought by the inhabitants of these countries, when we remember the belief is general that the souls of the departed hover around their earthly tenements, and also about those whom they have loved while living. Hence, when the Oriental, depressed by misfortune, would seek consolation, or, elevated by prosperity, desires sympathy, he repairs to the field of the dead, and communes with the spirits of his forefathers."
107
Places of Sepulture in Egypt.
PLACES OF SEPULTURE IN -EGYPT.
EGYPT surpasses all other nations, either ancient or modern, in the magnificence and grandeur of her monuments and tombs. Among these, the pyramids are particularly worthy of remark for their magnitude and solidity. Her rock tombs, especially the Necrop- olis of ancient Thebes, are no less astonishing. Within these splendid charnel houses the remains of many are yet to be found who lived in the days of Moses, when Thebes was renowned for arts and arms.
The Egyptians attached a flattering idea of honor to the tomb, and it was a public object of emulation. The severe examination which followed upon the death of a citizen, upon the borders of the marshy lake Acheron, whither they were carried for that purpose, furnishes interesting suggestions to all upon the subject of interment. The bodies of virtuous and worthy citizens were placed in a bark, which transported them to the other side of the lake, where public tombs were erected in a delightful country. Those who had dis- graced the resting-place of the dead were deprived of this honor, and thrown into a loathsome pit, which took the name of Tartarus, from the use to which it
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Spring Grove Cemetery.
was destined. This gave rise to the fables of the river Lethe, of the boatman Charon, and of the hundred years' wandering on the borders of the Styx. It was a belief of the ancient Egyptians .that, after a period of three thousand years, the bodies of the departed would again be animated-hence, the endeavor to preserve, till the arrival of that period, the mortal coil of friends and relatives from corruption. The walls of many of the subterranean vaults, particularly the royal cata- combs of Thebes, are magnificently decorated and plentifully covered with hieroglyphics, commemorative of the virtues of the "mighty dead," and of the national and filial piety of their successors. The number of tombs, sarcophagi, figures, etc., which are found scattered over the face of modern Egypt, are all objects worthy of admiration, and the traveler will not fail to wonder how a nation, which was once so great as to erect those stupendous edifices, could so far fall into oblivion that even its language and writings are totally unknown to us. In some parts of Egypt the inhab- itants would never erect houses, nor, by any means, construct temples in the vicinity of grounds used for inhumation-a precaution which tended, evidently, to separate, as far as possible, the dead from the living, and to place sepulchers at distant situations.
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