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Che history-, incorporation, rules and regulations.
Syracuse ,1860 .

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^OAKWOOD'£©>

HISTORY, INCORPORATION,
RULES AND REGULATIONS

OAKWOOD CEMETERY,
AT SYRACUSE, N. Y,

TOGETHER WITH THE

DEDICATION ODES AND ADDRESSES,

WITH OTHER PAPERS.

Sv-rac-use.N.Y. Oakv/ood Ceme.tavv|
SYRACUSE:
J. G. K. TKCAIR & CO., PRINTERS, JOURNAL OFFICE.
1860.

OFFICERS:
E. W. LEAVENWORTH,  President.
A. C. POWELL,  Vice President.
HAMILTON WHITE,  Treasurer.
ALLEN MUNROE,  Secretary.

TRUSTEES:

JOHN WILKINSON,
JOHN CROUSE,
AUSTIN MYERS,
ROBERT G. WYNKOOP,
J. DEAN HAWLEY,
ARCHIBALD C. POWELL

HAMILTON WHITE,
ALLEN MUNROE,
TIMOTHY R. PORTER,
J. P. HASKIN,
THOMAS G. ALVORD,
E. W. LEAVENWORTH.

HAMILTON WHITE,
A. C. POWELL,
J. DEAN HAWLEY,
E. W. LEAVENWORTH, (Ex. Officio,) J

1«

Executive

Committee.

HOWARD DANIELS, Engineer and Landscape Gardener.

Sup't and Keeper of the Grodnds.

PREFACE.

INTERMENTS IN SYRACUSE.
The first white person who was buried within the limits of
the city of Syracuse, and probably within the bounds of On
ondaga, was undoubtedly Benjamin Nukerk, who came into
the country as an Indian trader, with Ephraim Webster, in
11 S6, before any settlements were made on the Military Res
ervation, and who died here on the 7th day of December, 1787.
He was buried on a pleasant little eminence, which over
looks the Onondaga Lake and its shores, now embraced in
Farm Lot No. 298 or 310, and lying directly in the rear of
the residence of William Judson, on West Genesee Street,
and one or two hundred feet east of Geddes Street. The
head and foot stones are both etill standing and in excellent
preservation, and the inscription is quite legible. It is as fol
lows : —
BENJAMIN NUKERK,
Died Dec. 7th, 1787,
Aged 37 years.
He is undoubtedly the same person who is called Selkirk in
Mr. Clark's History of Onondaga, (Vol. 1st, p. 338). Mr.
Clark is also in an error in supposing he succeeded Mr. Web
ster in 1793, (Yol. 2d, p. 83). The grave is probably on Farm
Lot No. 310, which is in the town of Geddes.
About the year 1845, Joseph Savage, Esq., who owns the
ground occupied by this grave — had occasion to dig a trench
two or three feet below the surface, and while doing so struck

'•> 0AKW00D CEMETERY.
upon a line of graves. On examination they proved to be
placed in a direct line for some twenty or thirty feet, and
consisted of quite a number of bodies. The bones were most
ly decomposed, except the skulls, and among them were
found quite a number of bullets. Probably the ground was
never used as a permanent burial place, but these bodies fell
in some battle, of which perhaps we have no record, and
were hastily buried here in the sandy loam of this beautiful
little eminence. But it may be otherwise, as he at other
times found other remains in different places on the same
little hillock — one — the skull of which had evidently been
cleft by a tomahawk. A gun, brass kettle, flints and pipes
were also found from time to time. The bodies were found
mostly near the south-east corner of the knoll, about two
hundred feet east of the large pine tree now standing. Origi
nally there was quite a bluff at this point, which has been
levelled down by carrying away loam and sand.
The first burials in the village of Salina were made on
ground now known as Lot No. 8 in Block No. 15, near the
intersection of Spring and Free Streets. They however ceas
ed to bury there before 1794, ;md began to make interments
on the ground now embraced in Washington Park, and near
to the spot where the Presbyterian Church, (recently remov
ed,) was afterwards built. Mrs. Nancy T. Gilchrist, the mo
ther of the ] 'resent Ira A. Gilchrist, and several members of
the families of Dexter and Herring, were buried here, — Mrs.
Gilchrist in 1794.
Burials were made here also but for a few years, when tin cl
ing the location too near the dwellings, they began to bury
npon the ridge which runs through Block No. 40, in the rear
of the residence of James Lynch, Esq., and in the immedi-

0AKW00D CEMETERY. I
ate vicinity of that formerly occupied by the late Alfred
Northam, Esq.
This, too, was abandoned in 1801, when Sheldon Logan,
at that time Superintendent of the Onondaga Salt Springs,
laid oat a piece of ground, then owned by the State for a
public burial ground. It was used as such until the year
1829, and a few of the bodies buried on Washington Park,
including that of Mrs. Gilchrist, and perhaps some from
Block No. 40, were removed to the new grounds. Block No.
59, in the First Ward, cover?, the site of the grounds laid out
by Mr. Logan.
In the year 1829, the Legislature passed an Act, (Chap.
243,) vesting said Block No. 59 tn the Trustees of the village
of Salina, authorizing the sale of Block No. 43 to said Trus
tees for the purpose of a public cemetery, and directing said
Trustees to prepare said Block No. 43 for the purposes in
tended, to remove all the bodies from Block 59, and to sell
the same at public auction. All the expenses of the pur
chase, the preparation and improvement of the ground, and
the removal of the bodies, were to be paid from the proceeds
of the sale of Block No. 59.
This law was immediately carried out in all its parts. —
Block 59 was sold, after the removal of the bodies, and Block
No. 43 has been used as a cemetery from that time till the
present; and now nearly or quite all the lots have been ta
ken up and occupied.
Perhaps it may not be amiss to state in this connection
that Isaac Yan Yleck, Esq , the father of the late Matthew
Yan Yleck, formerly Inspector of the Salt Springs, and of
the present Abraham Yan Yleck, the first male child born
within the limits of the city, and also of Mrs. George O'Blen-

8 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
nis, was buried on Lot No. 8, Block No. 13, on what was
then and is still known as the Schouten Lot.
In the year 1834, previous to the Act of the Legislature
(Chapter 160 of the Laws of 1835) incorporating Lodi with the
village of Syracuse, the inhabitants of that locality established
a small cemetery on Beach Street, on the top of the hill south
of East Genesee Street, on Farm Lot No. 1 97. The late Oliver
Teall, Esq., who then held a contract for the lot, furnished the
land and offered an acre of ground or more if desired, on con
dition that the people in that vicinity would clear and fence.
They hired a Mr. Bates to do the clearing and fencing. But
about half an acre has ever been enclosed and that is now most
ly occupied. Few interments have been made there of late
years. Some bodies hare been removed, and the place has been
much neglected, and, if not already, will soon be abandoned.
The first burials within the limits of the late village of
Syracuse, were made on land now enclosed in Block No.
105, near the intersection of Clinton and Fayette streets.
They probably did not exceed twenty or thirty in number, and
the citizens ceased to bury there previous to the year 18 19.
When Messrs. Owen, Forman, and John Wilkinson laid
out the village of Milan, in 1819, and made a map of the
same, no spot of ground seems to have been set apart for a
cemetery, but the recent loss of that map precludes entire
certainty on that point. At least, from that time till the
year 1824, all burials were made at Salina, Onondaga Hill
or Onondaga Hollow. The first person buried in what is
now designated as the "Old Cemetery" (being the east end
of Block No. 98), was Mrs. Eliza Spencer, the first wife of
the present Thomas Spencer, Esq., who died on the 2nd day
of April, 1824. After the village passed into the hands of

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 9
the late Syracuse Company, they probably set apart this piece
of ground for a cemetery; and it continued to be used as
such until the year 1841.
At a meeting of the Trustees of the village, held on the
10th day of May, 1841, Hiram Putnam, Esq., being Presi
dent, a resolution was adopted, to call a public meeting, to
be held on the 18th day of May, then instant, " To take
"into consideration the propriety of raising money for a
" public cemetery for said village."
On the 11th day of May, the President and Clerk of the
village published a call for "a meeting of the taxable inhab-
" itants of the village of Syracuse."
The meeting was held on the 18th; adjourned from the
Mansion House to the fourth story of the New Banking
House— over the Onondaga County Bank and. Bank of Syr
acuse. Elihu L. Phillips, Esq., offered a resolution for the
purchase of parts of Farm Lots Nos. 128 and 242 — the same
premises recently embraced in Rose Hill Cemetery — con
taining 22tsa_ acres.
It was very well understood, in advance, that it was in
tended to purchase this property, and there was a verj strong
opposition to it. The soil was considered unfavorable and
the location undesirable. The purchase was strongly urged
by Philo N. Rust, Andrew N. Yan Patten, John H. Johnson,
Amos P. Granger, and ethers. It was resisted equally stren
uously by Aaron Burt, Lyman Clary, Henry Gifford, Wm.
B. Kirk, Thos. Rose, John Wilkinson, and others.
The resolution was discussed at great length — various
amendments were offered and rejected, and the original resolu
tion finally passed.
On the 27th of the same month, in compliance with a peti-

10

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

tion signed by many citizens, the Trustees ordered another
meeting of the taxable inhabitants, at the same place, on the
4th day of June, then next, " to consider the business in
" regard to a new cemetery."
At the meeting of June 4th Thos. Rose, Esq., offered a
resolution to rescind all the proceedings of May 18th in
regard to the new cemetery. The subject had excited a deep
interest in the village, and had called together the great body
of the leading citizens. The resolution to rescind was de
bated at great length, and finally rejected by a vote of 79 to
57. The names of those voting and the way they voted will
be found in Appendix " F."
On motion of Gen. Granger, two hundred dollars were
voted at the same meeting for the improvement of the grounds.
This property was conveyed to the Trustees of the village
by George F. Leitch and Catharine K. his wife, under date
of July 1st, 1841, (Book No. 78 of Deeds, page 452), and the
Trustees proceeded at once to the improvement of the grounds.
Ambrose S. Townsend, who died on the 24th day of August,
1841, was the first person buried at Rose Hill. He was the
oldest son of John Townsend, Esq., of Albany, and grandson
of the late Ambrose Spencer.
This ground has been occupied till the present time, but
has never been satisfactory to a large portion of our citizens.
It has always been evident that, owing to the proximity of
the ground to the city, it ought never to have been used for
the purpose r-f a cemetery.
The subsoil, which is a firm, tenacious clay, and full of
water in the Spring and Fall, constituted another very serious,
and, to many, insuperable objection.
And, in addition to this, the surface of the ground was

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 11
unfavorable, more than one-half of it being a steep side hill,
and not easily accessible, and the whole of it was devoid oi
Trees and Shrubs, and incapable of being ever made beauti
ful or attractive.
Our citizens had never manifested any great interest in the
grounds. They were never a source either of pride or
pleasure. Little effort was ever made to adorn or improve
them. They were by many deemed incapable of those high
adornments which the public taste now demands. No doubt
the city officials have often, if not generally, sympathized in
those views and feelings.
For these, and perhaps other reasons, an early desire was
manifested by many of our citizens to procure grounds for a
cemetery more in conformity to the higher cultivation of
modern taste on this subject.
As early as the years 1852-3 a number of meetings were
held by a few prominent citizens, and the subject of a new
Cemetery fully discussed and considered. Committees were
appointed for the purpose of thoroughly examining the vicin
ity of the city, in all directions, and finding the locality best
adapted in all respects for the purposes of a rural cemetery.
Those committees carefully performed their duty, and after
a most critical examination of the vicinity of the town for
the distance of several miles in all directions, they came
unanimously to the conclusion that the hundred acres of land
best fitted for all the purposes desired, was that now embraced
within the limits of Oakwood.
But our hopes were not then destined to be realized. No
one seemed willing to put himself at the head of the enter
prise, and assume all the labor and responsibility which that
position necessarily imposes. Winter came on soon after

12 OAEWOOD CEMETERY.
the final conclusion was arrived at, in regard to the grounds ,
and before the following Spring it was for the time forgotten
in the pursuit of other objects of more pressing personal
interest. The persons who most particularly interested themselves
in the effort of 1852-3, were Messrs. Henry A. Dillaye,
Charles B. Sedgwick, John B. Burnet, Robert B. Raymond,
Charles Pope, Hamilton White, A. C. Powell, C. Tyler
Longstreet, Israel Hall, John Wilkinson, Allen Munroe, and
E. W. Leavenworth.
The subject was again revived in the Summer of 1857, by
Messrs. Hamilton White, James L. Bagg, Lewis H. Red-
field, C. Tyler Longstreet, A. C. Powell, John Wilkinson
and Henry A. Dillaye. The papers were drawn up prepar
atory to the organization of an Association — the terms of
the purchase of the grounds above referred to were verbally
agreed upon, when the whole subject was suddenly put to
rest by the great pecuniary revulsion of that year.
A final and eventually successful effort was again made
in the Summer of 1858, principally by Messrs. White and
Leavenworth. This was continued with little interruption
till the Summer of 1859.
Having arranged with Chas. A. Baker, Esq., for the pur
chase of the front twenty acres, and with Henry Raynor,
Esq., for the balance of the ground, the first object to which
attention was directed, was the removal of the Jamesville
Plank Road from the bounds of the proposed cemetery. It
became necessary to procure the consent of a majority of
the stockholders, and then of a majority of the directors —
afterwards of a majority of the inhabitants residing on the
East and West Road, crossing the said Plank Road near its

0AKW00D CEMETERY. 13
first gate, to which the road was to be changed — next of the
Supervisor and Commissioners of Highways of the Town of
Onondaga, in which Town the road is situated — and finally,
to procure a right of way for said Plank Road across the
lands of Chas. A. Baker, Esq., and Dr. David S. Colvin.
After a year of laborious effort, and with the benefit of
much aid from Mr. Baker, these several objects were succes
sively attained, and all serious obstacles to the final accom
plishment of our object seemed to be removed, except the
raising of the necessary funds for the purchase. To that
important service A. C. Powell, Esq., for weeks, devoted a
large portion of his time, and with such aid as he had from
Messrs. Hawley, White and Leavenworth, succeeded early
in August in raising the necessary amount in subscriptions,
payable equally in one, two and three years, with interest.
[See copy of Subscription, Appendix E.]
. On the 15th day of August, 1859, the subscribers to the
fund, in pursuance of a circular addressed to them severally,
met at the Mayor's office and organized the Association of
Oakwood, and elected the following Trustees :
Hamilton White, Allen Munroe,
J. P. Haskins, Timothy R. Porter,
John Crouse, Robert G. Wynkoop,
John Wilkinson, J. Dean Hawley,
Archibald C. Powell, Thomas G. Alvord,
Austin Myers, E. W. Leavenworth.
[See Articles of Association in Appendix, letter D.]
On the day following a meeting of the Trustees was held
at the office of E. W. Leavenworth, and the following offi
cers were chosen :

14

0AKW00D CEMETERY.

E. W. Leavenworth, President.
A. C. Powell, Yice "
Hamilton White, Treasurer.
Allen Munroe, Secretary.
At the same meeting, a resolution was adopted on motion
of Mr. Alvord, instructing the officers of the Association to
purchase of Messrs. Baker & Raynor the lands now embraced
in Oakwood on the terms theretofore agreed upon, viz, :
$9,500 for the twenty acres in front bought of Mr. Baker,
and $15,000 for the 72rV9„ acres, bought of Mr. Raynor, in
the rear.
Agreeably to such resolution, the purchase was made and
papers exchanged on the fifth day of September thereafter.
All the, lots in Rose Hill Cemetery, and also in that at
Salina, having been sold, and the Common Council having
resolved t:> sell the north eight acres of the former, the Trus
tees made immediate preparations for the improvement of
the grounds, and early in October, Howard Daniels, Esq., an
accomplished landscape gardener from the city of .New York,
with the aid of fifty or sixty men, commenced the work, and
continued it till the month of December.
The first person buried at Oakwood was Mrs. Nellie G.
Williamson, who died on the 6th, and was buried on Tuesday,
the 8th day of November, 1859.
The first monument of any kind erected within the bounds
of the cemetery,wasthatof James Crouse, Esq., on Section No.
13, put up during the winter of 1859-60.
On the 14th day of November the first public sale of Lots
took place, and from that day to the first day of February
following, more than seven thousand dollars' worth of Lots

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 15
were selected, and but a small pa'rt, even of the subscribers,
had then made their selections.
Thus, at length, after nearly ten years of delays and diffi
culties and disappointments, after the project had been more
than once abandoned, and our hopes all but extinguished,
this lovely spot of ground was secured for the final repose of
our dead : to be visited, admired, and hallowed in our mem
ories, while we live, by a thousand sacred and tender recol
lections, and to, be the beautiful resting-place of onr bodies
when summoned to our final homes.

DEDICATION.

On Thursday, the 3rd day of November, the grounds were
dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies, to the sacred pur
poses of a resting place for the dead.
The Hon. Wm.' J, Bacon, of Utica, kindly consented to
deliver the Address, Alfred B. Street, the Poem, and the Rev.
John Pierpont, of Boston, and Mrs. Thos. T. Davis, to furnish
each an Ode.
The occasion was one of deep interest to the citizens of
Syracuse, and many thousands testified their appreciation of
the importance of the object attained, by their presence on
the ground. The day, which was lowery and threatening
in the morning, became bright and beautiful, and one of the
pleasantest of the season.
The following was the Order of Exercises published on the
occasion : DEDICATION OF OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
The Trustees of "Oakwood" have the pleasure of announcing to the
citizens of Syracuse, that Thursday, November Zrd, 1859, has been desig
nated as the day for the opening of Oakwood Cemetery.
The Military, Fire Department, and Civic Associations, have been
invited to participate in the ceremonies of the ocaasion.
The procession will he formed at 10J o'clock a. m., under the direction
of Gen. Robt. M. Richardson, assisted by the 24th Brigade Staff in the
following order : Gen. R. M. Richardson, Chief Marshal ;
miller's regimental band ;
51st Regiment N. Y. S. M., under command of Col. Walrath-

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 17
samsel's band ;
Fire Department, under direction of B. L. Higgins, Chief Engineer, and
Assistant Engineers ;
Fire Department Benevolent Association;
German Mechanics' Association ;
St. Joseph's Society;
Young Men's Christian Association ;
Sutherland's band.
Lodges of Independent Order of Odd Fellows ;
Cynosure Encampment, I. 0. 0. F. ;
Lodges of Free and Accepted Masons;
Chapter of Royal Arch Masons ;
Commandery of Knights Templar;
Directors of Franklin Institute ;
Board of Education ;
Mayor and Common Council;
Orator and Poet;
Officiating Clergy ;
Trustees of Oakwood Cemetery.
The procession will march to Oakwood Cemetery, where the following
exercises will take place :
Music — by Miller's Regimental Band.
Prater — by Rev. Mr. Strieby.
Vocal Music — by Syracuse Musical Institute.
Introductory Remarks— by Hon. E. "W. Leavenworth, President of
Oakwood Cemetery.
Poem— by Alfred B. Street, Esq.
Music — by Sutherland's Band.
Oration — by Hon. Wm. J. Bacon.
Ode — written for the occasion, by Rev. John Pierpont, — read bv Rev.
W. W. Newell, D. D.
Benediction — by Rev. George Morgan Hills.
After the services at Oakwood Cemetery, the procession will again form
under the direction of the Chief Marshal, and march to Ciinton Square,
where it will be dismissed.
The procession was formed about 11 A. M., on Salina
street, in front of the Syracuse House, under the direction of
Gen'l Rob't M. Richardson, and immediately took up the line
of march for Oakwood. A spacious platform had been
erected for the occasion, for the accommodation of the Ora
tors, Poet, Clergy, Trustees, and other gentlemen, in Dedi
cation Yalley, directly north of the west end of Section No.
13, and seats for the audience on the side of the hill directly
north of the platform. 2

18

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

The exercises were opened by Miller's Regimental Band,
with the "Dead March" in Saul. At the conclusion, the
Rev. M. E. Strieby offered the following
PEATEE:
Almighty God, thou author of our existence, and in who3e
hands is the breath of our lives, we come together this
morning to dedicate and to consecrate these grounds to a
sacred purpose. The natures which thou hast implanted
within us prompt us to a kind care, and suitable burial of
the bodies of our departed friends, and Thy Holy Word
sanctifies and sanctions these desires ; for thou didst approve
the anointing which Mary gave for Thy burial, and the
embalming and interment which sorrowing friends gave to
Thy body. So in this consecrated spot,»we can bring our
friends, from time to time, to lay them here, and at length
we shall all be borne to the earth in this holy sepulchre, or
some other resting place of the dead. Grant that in the
dedication we make of this consecrated ground, we may be
accepted ; and finally, when the trumpet of the Archangel
shall sound, and this ground shall give up its dead, and all
the earth shall open up her receptacles, do thou then grant,
Heavenly Father, to take us to that resting place where there
shall be no more sorrow, no more tears, and no more death •
and to the Eternal God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, shall
be the praise and the glory forever more. Amen.
The Rev. Mr. Fillmore was here introduced and read the
following beautiful Hymn, written for the occasion by Mrs.
Thomas T. Davis, of this city.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 19
HYMN.
BY MRS. THOMAS T. DAVIS. T*
Air — PleyeVs Hymn.
Life and Love with tender hand
Guard and deck this Silent Land ;
Cypress arch and willow wreath
Shade the sacred sod beneath ;
Sun and starlight gild the shrine,
Flow'ry chaplets fondly twine ;
Angel hosts, your vigils keep
Where our loved and lost shall sleep.
Loved, not lost ! No fear nor gloom
Shrouds the portal of the tomb ;
Death revealed immortal day
When the Rock was rolled away.
Grave and crypt and pallid stone
Mark not the realm of Death alone ;
Life but sleeps, while Death survives, —
Death shall die, and Life arise.
Shed not then the frenzied tear ;
Robe in light the pall, the bier ;
Yonder see the shining shore
Where our loved have gone before ;
Rear the marble o'er the dead,
Crown with flowers the dreamless head ;
Calmly wait till Life shall be
Blended with eternity.
This Hymn was then sung by the members of the Syra
cuse Musical Institute, under the ' leadership of H. N.
White, Esq.
The Hon. E. W. Leavenworth, President of the Cemetery
Association, then came forward and delivered the introduc
tory address, as follows :
Ladies and Fellow Citizens: —
We are assembled here this day upon an occasion of
absorbing interest. Our long cherished hopes, so often

20 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
overclouded, so often deferred, are this day realized. Our
highest anticipations are more than fulfilled.
We are convened here this morning that with appropriate
ceremonies, and with becoming solemnity, we may set apart
the loveliest spot upon the Banks of the Onondaga, as the
final resting-place of our beloved and honored dead. We
have come together to consecrate for ourselves, a dwelling
for these mortal bodies, when the labors and cares, and trials
of life are over, and the spirit has ascended to God who
gave it.
How long, with anxious eyes, has this day been looked
for ! Through how many years of hope and doubt, and
fear — of efforts and disappointments, have we struggled on,
that at length we might enter upon this promised land !
But hope is now fruition, and this occasion is the joyful evi
dence of our full success.
An ample, permanent and attractive resting place for our
dead, seems to be the last great "necessity of our city. Water
and gas — railroads and canals — a salubrious climate- — a fer
tile soil — prosperous agriculture, commerce and manufac
tures, have supplied the great wants of our town — filled our
laps with plenty and made our homes the abodes of happi
ness and peace. But while laboring so diligently and suc
cessfully for the wants of the living, we had forgotten what
was due to the dying and the dead. No adequate, suitable
or permanent provision had been made for their repose.
All our present cemeteries are inadequate in their dimen
sions, entirely unsuitable in their location and the character
of their soils, and it is perhaps not too much to say, that
when the friends of those who now rest in them have passed
away, they must yield to the onward and irresistible pro-

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

21

gress of population and improvement. The fate of those
similarly situated in other cities, and even in our own, warn
us of the inevitable result.
But fortunately, our long delay has not, in this instance,
proved our ruin. Fortunately, almost providentially, we
have been able to secure the spot of ground which nature
seems to have intended for the purpose to which we now
dedicate it. Although but a mile and a half from the cen
tre of our city, looking down from each successive elevation
upon the town, the lake and the lovely valley of the Onon
daga, happily the hand of improvement, till now, had never
reached it. A variety of circumstances had preserved it in
all the loveliness of nature, for the final home of many gen
erations yet unborn.
Within its one hundred acres is embraced a combination
of attractions which, if anywhere equalled, are no where
surpassed. Placed most fortunately, not too near the city,
nor too remote from it, mostly covered with young and
thrifty woods of the second growth, so abundant as to allow
great opportunity for selection — its surface diversified by
the most beautiful and varied elevations and depressions,
presenting views unrivalled in their extent and their mag
nificence — rendered already attractive by natural lawns, and
the most picturesque scenery, it is all that the highest judg
ment and taste can demand, or the liveliest fancy paint. —
And the careful hand of improvement will, each successive
year, develop and heighten the charms with which nature
has so liberally adorned it.
Each loved form, committed by pious hands to its sacred
dust, will invest its quiet vales and hill-sides with a yearly
increasing interest, until each one of us shall have some

22 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
tender tie to lead us often hither, and until we ourselves,
now in the vigor of health, shall be permitted, beneath these
lovely shades, to return to our kindred dust.
From this day these grounds will be annually improved
by graded and graveled walks and avenues — by smiling
lawns and quiet winding paths beneath the shadows of the
towering oaks — enriched and adorned by sculptured mar
bles, and the various testimonials which wealth and affection
will yearly consecrate to virtue and loveliness — hallowed
more and more as years speed on in their tireless course, by
the holiest feelings of the soul, by memories and emotions
which find a home in every human heart. Soon the mortal
remains of thousands among us, who are now walking our
streets, arrayed in the beauty of health, shall plumber be
neath her holy, quiet breast. Increasing thousands will an
nually seek the silence of this holy ground. Hither the
busy, struggling world will often come to enjoy, for a time,
the balmy breath of Heaven — to commune with nature in
her loveliest forms, and in these secluded retreats to forget
for an hour the toils and cares of life. Hither the stranger
will direct his course, to mark the evidence and the standard
of our civilization. Hither age, with tottering steps, will
sometimes come to view the spot where he must shortly lie.
Here, too, at evening's silent hour — wrapped in sable weeds
— quiet and alone, the widow, the mother — the desolate and
bereaved of every name — will wend their way with slow
and solemn tread and saddened hearts, to drop another tear
over the graves of those they loved.
From whatever point of view we regard this enterpriso,
we are compelled to contemplate it as one of surpassing in
terest and importance to the citizens of Syracuse, and well

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 23
may we who are here assembled this day, congratulate our
selves, if in any humble degree, even, we have contributed
to the accomplishment of an object so desirable to the living,
so respectful to the dead.
The first serious efforts for the establishment of a Rural
Cemetery in this city, were made in the years 1852-3. Sev
eral meetings were held and were well attended. Commit
tees were appointed to view the adjacent country and find
suitable grounds. After a very thorough examination, those
committees reported, and it was generally, if not unani
mously conceded, that the grounds we now occupy were the
most desirable in the vicinity of the city. But after reach
ing this point, the enterprise was permitted to sleep — mainly,
I think, for the reason that no one seemed willing to put
himself at the head of the effort necessary to accomplish the
result. It was again revived in 1857 with renewed zeal. The
price of the land was agreed upon, all the necessary papers
were drawn, preparatory to a final organization, when the
great financial revulsion of that year arrested the enterprise.
Fifteen months since, in the summer of 1558, a few of the
gentlemen who had heretofore interested themselves in this
matter again met, and resolved to renew the effort. Num
berless difficulties seemed to surround them.
Several months were consumed before we obtained a sat
isfactory offer for the sale of the lands.
The Plank Road, passing through the grounds, was con
sidered, and very properly, an insuperable objection, and
one which must be removed before the purchase was con
summated. Much delay and some difficulty was experi
enced in procuring the consent of the stockholders and di-

24 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
rectors of said road — in obtaining the sanction of such
removal from the Town Officers of the Town of Onondaga
— in procuring the new right of way which said removal
made necessary, and more than all, in raising the $25,000
which was required to make the purchase. But patience
and perseverance met with their accustomed reward. The
enterprise was regarded with favor and liberally treated by
the bulk of our citizens, and I am happy here, in this public
manner, to acknowledge our obligations to the stockholders
and directors of the Jamesville Plank Road Company, and
to the Supervisor and Commissioners of the Town of Onon
daga, as well as to many other gentlemen, who fully appre
ciated the value of the object which we had in view, and
contributed to its accomplishment.
Fifteen months have seen every obstacle removed ; the
association organized, the lands purchased, and the work of
improvement moving rapidly forward, under the guidance
and direction of Mr. Howard Daniels, of the city of New
York, an accomplished landscape gardener, whose large ex
perience and cultivated taste will develope all its beauties,
and render Oakwood the pride and the pleasure of every
citizen of Syracuse.

At the conclusion of Mayor Leavenworth's address, Alfred
B. Street, Esq., of Albany, pronounced the following exqui
sitely beautiful and appropriate
POEM:
O'er life's fresh springtide, when the blithesome hours
Dance to glad music through perennial flowers ;
O'er bounding youth, when hope points ever on,
No blossom scentless, and no color wan ;

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
O'er stately manhood, when the mounting tread
Seeks the far prize that stars the crag o'erhead ;
O'er trembling age, when, worn with toil and woe,
It turns from light above to gloom below ;
Darkens a shade, mysterious, cold and black,
Mantling the flowery as the wintry track ;
Brooding where joy its diamond goblet quaffs ;
Where daring, loud at every danger laughs ;
Where strength securely rests on future years ;
Where fame, wealth, pleasure, each its votary cheers ;
Death is that shade, inexorable Death,
With ever lifted dart at all of mortal breath.
But though the soul that lights the frame depart,
The darkened dust is sacred to the heart.
Around the spot that wraps the dead from sight,
Lingers thought's tenderest, love's divinest light ;
Hallowed by suffering, it remains a shrine
Where oft sad memory wends, its fairest flowers to twine.
The land that trod through Deluge-ooze its way,
Gave to the pyramid its mummied clay.
The purple skies of Art and Song inurned
The sacred ashes sacred fires had burned.
The Parsee offered to his God, the sun,
On the grand crag the heart whose course was run.
And the red roamer of the prairie sea
Yields to the air his wrecked mortality.
But not to pyramid, though mocking Time,
The urn funereal, nor the sun sublime,
Nor boundless air, nor yet the waste of waves,
That stateliest, mightiest, most august of graves —
But yet in such drear weltering vastness spread
Should Christian hands consign the Christian dead.
But to the earth, the warm, the steadfast earth,
That, touched by God's own finger, gave us birth ;
Where to the resurrecting sun and rain
The seed but perishes to live again ;
Where Nature hides her life in Winter's gloom
For warbling Spring to sing it into bloom ;
Home of the tree that sheds its leafy showers
For the new garland wreathed by vernal hours !

9,P.

26 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Home of the priceless fount ! the matchless gem !
The precious gold ! more precious grainy stem !
Yea, as we woke to life upon her breast,
Her loving arms should fold our last and longest rest.
And thus, oh lovely Oakwood, shalt thou spread
Thy sylvan chambers, for the slumbering dead.
Through thy green landscapes shall Affection stray,
Weep the wild tear, with softened sadness pray.
Within the glen, as murmurings fill the tree,
A voice shall seem to whisper, " Come with me !"
And the green hill top — whence the sight is fraught,
With the rich painting Nature's hand hath wrought ;
Woodland and slope, mount, meadow and ravine,
The city's white, the water's purple sheen,
And the dim mountain tops, until the gaze
Pierces where distance hangs its tender haze —
Tell that the soul, with onward pointed eye,
Finds its far limit only in the sky.
The grassy dingle and the leafy dell
Shall tremble sadly to the tolling bell ;
Where now wide solitude wraps slope and glade
For winds to pipe to dancing sun and shade,
Shall carved memorials of the dead be found
Breathing their solemn eloquence around.
Here, shall the son, in some prone trunk, descry
The sire he saw in life's completeness die ;
Here, shall the sire, in some green pine, survey
The stately son, ere death had claimed its prey ;
Here, in the flower, the mother again shall see
The laughing child that perished at her knee ;
Here, the weird wind shall with long, melting moan,
Mingle its sadness with the mourner's own,
And the drear cloud, low brooding, seem a part
Of the dark sorrow hanging on his heart ;
Here, too, the joyful splendor of the sun
Shall tell the life, the loved and lost hath won,
And warblings sweet, the landscape's ear that fill
Of those glad strains the sounding heavens that thrill.
Summer shall here hold green and leafy time,
Emblem of those that perished in their prime ;
Autumn shall shower its wreaths upon the air,

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 2 7
Sign to the living also to prepare ;
Winter shall spread in fierce and frowning might,
Great type of death, its chilling robes of white ;
But oh, glad thought ! in Spring's triumphant reign
Nature shall bound in radiant joy again,
Bid with her rapturous life Death's horrors flee,
Type of that glorious truth — Man's Immortality.
Music by Sutherland's Band.

The Hon. Wm. J. Bacon, of LTtica, was now introduced,
and delivered the
ORATION.
We have assembled this day, my friends, to perform a
grateful and pious duty. It is to consecrate, by fitting cere
monies, and appropriate memorials, a new place of burial
for the dead, another abode where the wearied spirit and the
exanimate body may lie down and rest. To the living it
should be a grateful duty, for thereby our hearts become
chastened and purified, and our eager chase after the things
that perish modified, if not arrested. It is pious toward the
dead, in the preparation we make for their secure and pleas
ant repose, when the storms of life have ceased to beat, and
by '¦' garnishing their sepulchres," we bring back to our re
membrance the forms and characters of those loved and de
parted ones whom we expect to deposit here.
Care of, and respect for the dead, would seem to be a nat
ural and spontaneous instinct of the human heart, but its
manifestations are by no means uniform. In its higher de
velopments it is the out-growth of civilization and refine
ment, aided or repressed by the view a community is accus
tomed to take of the sanctity of life, the solemnity of death,
and the things that follow after that last mortal change.

28 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Perhaps the earliest record we have of a transaction by
which the ashes of the dead were secure of a resting place5
and the title thereto assured in perpetuity to the purchaser
and his descendants, is derived from the narrative of the
sacred historian in Genesis. It was while Abraham yet dwelt
as a stranger and sojourner in the land which was subse
quently confirmed to his posterity as the promised inheritance.
that he lost the wife of his youth, the honored mother of that
son in whom his seed was to be called. They had dwelt long
and lovingly together. In all his wanderings — when, obeying
the Divine command, he departed from his country, and his
kindred, and his father's house, — she had been his faithful and
constant companion, and now, at the age of one hundred and
twenty -seven years, she had reached her ultimate earthly
pilgrimage; and at Hebron, in the land of Canaan, she laid
down to die, and Abraham came to " mourn for Sarah, and
" to weep for her." And then occurred the transaction
recorded in the 23rd Chapter of Genesis, by which, for the
sum of " four hundred shekels of silver, current money with
" the merchant," the desired burial place was forever secured,
even "the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, and
" the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in
" the field, and that were in all the borders round about."
How fondly in after years the memory of Abraham recurred
to this sacred spot, we hardly needed any narrative to inform
us ; but that it was so remembered by him and his family,
for at least three generations, we are abundantly assured by
the fact that there his own remains were deposited, there
Jacob charged his sons to bury him, for there, he adds with
pious recognition of his honored ancestry and love for his
kindred. " there they buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife ;

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 29
"there Isaac was buried, and' Rebekah his wife, and there I
" buried Leah ;" and when Joseph died he took an oath of the
children of Israel that they should carry up his bones from
the land of Egypt, beyond all doubt that he, likewise, might
be gathered to his fathers, and rest in the same hallowed and
secure inclosure.
It seems a little difficult to assign an adequate reason for
the exceeding care and costliness displayed by the ancient
Egyptians in the disposition they made of the remains of the
dead. That something inspired this, beyond mere respect
for the memory of departed friends and kindred, would appear
to be indicated by the existence of those vast catacombs,
the mighty cities of the dead, preserved by the process of
embalming, for an apparently interminable duration, and the
erection of pyramids, for the existence of which no reason so
satisfactory has been given as that which assigns to them the
office of sepulchres of their rulers, so aptly described by Job
when he speaks of "Kings and Counsellors of the earth;
" which built desolate places for themselves." Desolate and
dreary, indeed, are those towering and shapeless masses,
standing, as they do, amid arid wastes of ever-shifting sand,
the very names of the builders unknown, and their ashes
undistinguished from the common dust that, in mummied
preservation, still mocks at death and wears the semblance
of a hideous life. Who, in contrast with these, as he con
templates his last resting place, would not, with fervent aspi
rations, breathe the wish of the Christian poet,
"Mine be the breezy hill that skirts the down,
Where a green grassy turf is all I crave,
With here and there a violet bestrown,
Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave,
And may an evening sun shine sweetly on my grave."

30 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Among the Hebrews there existed a strong feeling of
respect for the remains of the dead, and their places of burial
were selected with great care and preserved with solicitous
regard. They excavated caves in their ornamented gardens,
hewed out rocky sepulchres in the sides of mountain decliv
ities, and sought equally the sequestered valley, the open
hill-top, and the leafy forest. In contradistinction from most,
if not all, of the ane'ent nations, they called the grave the
" House of the Living," indicating thereby their belief that it
was not the " be-all and the end-all " here or hereafter, but
was only the portal of that vista that opened up into another
and a larger and a nobler life, — and thus, when Our Savior
declared that " God is not the God of the dead, but of the
"living," he uttered a truism, which, by the Jewish mind —
acquainted with their own history, the traditional usages and
language of the common people, not to speak of the teachings
of their prophets and wise men — should have been instantly
recognized, and as familiar to their thoughts as household
words. With the Greeks and Romans, and especially with the
former, the feeling that prompted costly memorials and votive
offerings to the dead, was more aesthetic than religious : for,
as they recognized no assured hope of life beyond the tomb,
they had no especial lessons to draw from the grave, save
those which might animate the living to emulate the deeds
which in this life had made the departed illustrious. To the
momentous question propounded more than three thousand
years ago, " If a man die, shall he live again?" the most cul
tivated and learned Heathenism had no answer save the dim
foreshadowings on the bright ethereal mind of Plato, and
the speculations which in a later age employed the leisure

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 31
and engaged the imperial mind of Tully. But how meagre
and unsatisfactory were their highest views and noblest aspi
rations, is indicated by the fact that, in that dimly descried
future, that land afar off, that " diem prceclarem" which the
great Roman orator hoped might in some unknown region
break upon his eyesight, his highest visions of happiness
were connected not with the presence of Him who is the
fountain of all that is pure, and holy, and good, but with
dwelling in classic abodes, mingling in the councils of the
wise and the learned, and communing with men illustrious
in arts and arms, celebrated in song and renowned in story.
To the common people the future life, if any there was,
presented no recognized system of reward or of retribution.
Only the illustrious, by a divine apotheosis, were raised to
the gods, whom it required no great stretch of virtue to
equal or excel ; while the punishments of the impious, the
incestuous, and the cruel, could only be made palpable to
the sense by such material torments, as the water soliciting
the taste, and forever eluding the grasp of Tantalus, the iron
wheel of Ixion, and the ever rolling and ceaselessly rebound
ing stone of Sisyphus. But what mythology by its fanciful
and empty creations, and [philosophy in its highest reach of
thought and most earnest yearnings of spirit, could never
attain, — a ray of light from the throne of the invisible has
now revealed to us. When Jesus of Nazareth through
mortal lips proclaimed to the weeping sisters of Bethany,
" I am the resurrection and the life," the darkness of the
tomb fled away, and henceforth and evermore it was that
"Life, and warmth, and joyous light,
And sorrow's softened tone,
Were round the pleasant path which seemed
To lead to heaven alone."

32 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
How immediately and beautifully was the power of this
new revelation manifested in the life and death, the cheerful
burial places, and the monumental emblems and inscriptions
of the early Christians. They adopted the Greek word
Koimeteria — cemeteries — literally, places of sleep — as the
appropriate and characteristic designation of the spots they
devoted to the repose of the dead. When, in the language
of the Scriptures, their brethren "fell asleep," devout men
carried them to their burial, and, though lamentations and
tears were not restrained, they laid them down in hope, con
fident that the sleep of the good and the holy would be fol
lowed by a sure and blissful waking. They carved no such
emblems on their tombstones as inverted torches, to intimate
that when the light of life went out it was never to be
rekindled : but the star of faith, the anchor of hope, and the
rainbow of promise, garnished and flamed out as well on
humble stone as on towering shaft or commemorative
cenotaph ; while -such inscriptions as " A father to his son
" borne away by angels," " To him who now lives among the
" innocent ones," " He is not dead, but sleepeth," marked, in
the strongest contrast with heathen hopelessness, their abid
ing trust in the life of joy and blessedness,
" Whose portal they called Death."
It is in full accordance with these glorious hopes, and
somewhat in imitation of the spirit that animated those early
disciples of our common faith, that we come this day to ded
icate this Cemetery, this sleeping-place, this house of repose,
for some that have gone before and many that shall follow
after us. I am not sufficiently familiar with your local his
tory to be acquainted with the varied steps of progress through

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 33
which you have passed, until you have reached the culmina
ting point which has secured the quiet glades, the leafy nooks,
and the lovely outlooking hilltops of "Oakwood," as a "pos-
" session of a burial-place" to you and to your children for
ever. I may, doubtless, assume that yours has been the
usual history of all the early settlements in our country, from
the day when the pilgrims at Plymouth hurried their dear
departed ones to undistinguished graves. They buried them
in silence and in fear, and raised not even a mound over their
resting places, lest the ever watchful foe should discover their
diminished numbers, and know how few of those brave and
manly hearts were left to shelter the weak and helpless that
still looked up to them for succor.
You passed through no such unhappy experience as this ;
and yet it is quite possible, so marvellous has been your
growth and development, that there are those yet living and
moving among you, — perchance standing amid the witnesses
of the ceremonies of this day, — who also witnessed here the
first burial, heard the first wail of sadness that went up from
stricken hearts, and listened to the first prayer that broke the
solitude of the forest primeval, where now stands this fair
and prosperous eity, teeming with life and energy and hope.
The day that marked that first visitation of the angel of death
in this new settlement, whenever it occnrrsd, and whether
the visit came to 6miling infancy in its opening dawn of beau
ty, to woman iu her confiding weakness and faithful love, or
to man in his stalwart strength, was a sad and memorable day.
No slowly tolling bell sent the news to distant households
that a spirit was passing to the unseen world ; no gathered
crowds, attracted by curiosity or by sympathy, thronged the
streets : no sable hearse or nodding plumes were there to
3

34 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
attend the dead to his resting-place, but grief, though simple,
was sincere, and mourning, though it had no outward show,
was heartfelt and universal. Then was the virgin soil first
pierced to receive that earliest tenant, where the great reaper,
Death, subsequently gathered in his victims with such fre
quency that the little spot of earth thus dedicated to his
dominion became too limited to receive the increasing multi
tude. Then did you, or your fathers, seek larger fields and
wider boundaries, where humble affection planted flowers and
ample wealth erected marble obelisks, until, in time, that
teeming ground became too straight for its occupants, and
taste and large-hearted beneficence, no less than imperative
necessity, guided your footsteps to this pleasant spot.
In the early days of New England, the place most com
monly selected for a burial-ground was an enclosure adjacent
to, and, indeed, surrounding, their houses of worship, so that
from the open window the living could look out upon the
mansions of the dead, and read the names of the fathers and
mothers of the hamlet, and ponder the lessons suggested by
the holy texts that " taught the rustic moralist to die." These
places were frequently indicated by a name which Long
fellow very happily commemorates when he says
" I like that ancient Saxon phrase which calls
The burial-place " God's acre " — it is just ;
It consecrates each grave within its walls,
And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust."
You may have had no such places of repose around or in
the neighborhood of your churches ; yet have I seen in my
walks about your city a spot where tottering and moss-grown
stones and half-decayed enclosures are yet visible. The busy
hand of enterprise has almost entirely surrounded it, and, ere

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 35
'ongj yielding to the inevitable march of improvement, the
ashes of the few yet sleeping there must be mingled with
and undistinguishable from the common earth, or blown with
restless violence by the winds of heaven to far-distant
regions. Each of them had a history in his day, and, as each
one was laid in the narrow house, weary feet and aching
hearts went back to desolate hearthstones, and sadly took up
again the burden of life which the lost had aided them to
bear. And now the busy throng of the living sweeps by
them, and they heed it not. Rushing railroad trains, with
thundering tread, jar and shake the solid earth above them,
but their repose is not broken. Like the long separated, but
in death united, lovers in " Evangeline " —
" In the heart of the city they lie unknown and unnoticed ;
Daily the tides of life go ebbing and flowing beside them ;
Thousands of throbbing hearts, while theirs are at rest, and forever ;
Thousands of aching brains, while theirs no longer are busy ;
Thousands of toiling hands, while theirs have ceased from their labors ;
Thousands of weary feet, while theirs have completed their journey."
If there be, my friends, no kindred left to care for and
protect their remains, and the hand of improvement must
invade their rest, gather up, I beseech you, the poor dust, ere
it be borne away beyond recovery, and make room for these
relics in your new and beautiful grounds, that there they
may, if possible, enjoy that repose that shall not be again
broken until the voice of the archangel and the trump of God
shall call the dead to judgment.
A burial place in a crowded city is ever a heartless and
repulsive object. Pressed upon by the habitations of the
living, and only preserved from intrusive familiarity or unhal
lowed desecration by high and forbidding walls, it presents
no scenery to attract, no quietness and peace to allure to

36 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
meditation. But rural cemeteries, at a pleasant and yet
accessible remove from the dwellings of men, with waving
trees and sweet-scented flowers, the emblems and symbols of
the heart, with " yellow sunshine and flowing air," vocal with
song of birds and sighing winds and murmuring streams,
these are fitted to soothe at the same time that they elevate
the spirit, and, while they teach us no forgetfulness, make us
less repining and disconsolate. The graves of all the dead
have myriad voices, that speak to the living with more than
the eloquence of human lips. They tell us of man's frailty
— they arrest the swift current of thoughtless, worldly life —
they bring us near the confines of the unseen and the better
land, and teach us, if we will but listen, how to live with
wisdom and to die with hope.
But the burial place of those we love is always invested
with far deeper interest. It is here that the heart has gar
nered up its treasures, and will not let them die. And in
future years, upon this now untrodden ground, will many
bitter tears be shed, and many an unavailing sigh be breathed?
and many trembling footsteps come and go, until the keen
ness of a first great sorrow has been shaded down into a quiet
grief, and we shall learn to love the place where they repose
who have passed us by only a few stages in the great journey
of life. Hither shall come the strong, stern man, whose
heart has been so encased in the adamantine walls of world-
liness that only a wrench that tears his life-strings asunder
can make him feel ; and here gentle and long-suffering woman?
bending like the ozier beneath the great blow that bows her
to the dust; and manly and ingenuous youth, struggling to
hide a grief it cannot quite repress ; and prattling childhoed,

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. " 37
all unconscious of its loss, shall come, and with loving and
united labor they "Here shall dress a sweeter sod
Than fancy's feet have ever trod."
I congratulate you, my friends, that you have at length
been able to secure so appropriate, so desirable a resting-
place for yourselves and your children.
It is honorable alike to the public spirit and the private
enterprise that have been engaged in its acquisition. Nature
has done much, but taste, and skill, and affection, will do
still more in the future years of its history to make it a very
Mecca of the mind and heart. It is fitting that it should be
consecrated by public and solemn acts of devotion to Almighty
God, by the voice of prayer and the swelling tide of sacred
song, for here in after years is to be gathered a great congre
gation of your loved and honored ones.
We stand here to-day, surrounded by the emblems and
memorials of the fading year, and legibly written around us
is the inscription " Passing away." The sighing wind and the
deciduous leaf of autumn are the harbingers and witnesses of
that temporary death that falls upon the natural world. Bud
and leaf and flower and fruit have alike yielded to the inev
itable law by which death follows life, and suspended ani
mation the freshness and glory as well of nature as of sentient
existence. These emblems are not unfitting accompaniments
of this day and this occasion, reminding us, as they do, of
our own mortality, and of the change that will come to us as
it has to the millions that have gone before and will succeed
us, — " for we all do fade as a leaf."
But over all this scene another change shall pass. The
storms of the coming winter shall visit this now peaceful

38 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
spot, and howl through these leafless branches ; and its white
and glittering shroud shall enwrap this already decaying
vegetation. But Spring, with its balmy breath and softly
distilling showers, shall come again. Suspended nature
shall hear its voice and listen to its footsteps, and leap up
and sing rejoicingly. And, in like manner, the lifeless re
mains that may in after years be deposited here, shall be
awakened and re-animated, for
" Spring shall re-visit the mouldering urn,
And day dawn again on the night of the grave."
Upon all these now denuded oaks — upon dying flower and
shrub, and upon every withered blade of grass, is written
the inscription — " Resurgimus" And upon every monu
mental stone or tablet to be erected here, may also be en
graved the same blessed word of promise and of hope.
And still another day shall come in the far future, and yet
another spectacle shall be witnessed here, transcending all
that earth has yet seen of fearful interest or glorious gran
deur. A great assembly shall stand, once more, and for the
last time, upon this ground. " The leaves will have ceased
to fall. Then the grass will no more fade. Memorials will
have done their work. We shall look towards the moun
tains, and they will move out of their places ; towards the
graves, and they will not be here ; towards the earth, and
all will be new ; towards the skies, and with a mighty noise
they will pass away."
And then shall your dead come forth and join the great
assembly that from hill and valley, from the waste wilder
ness and the crowded city, from mountain's highest top, and
ocean's deepest cave, will go up to meet the Lord in the air.
Thrice happy they who shall have part with him in that sec-

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 39
ond and final resurrection. " They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat." The sorrows of this mortal life shall no
more re-visit them, nor ever again shall they experience the
eclipse of faith, the desertion of love, or the failure of hope.
" No more to them earth's fading light
And blighting air are given,
For they shall see the light of God,
And breathe the air of Heaven !"
The oration was enthusiastically received, and upon its
conclusion the orator drew down upon himself the warm
plaudits of the spectators. .
Next followed the Ode, (written for the occasion by the
Rev. John Pierpont, who honored the occasion with his pre
sence,) which was read by the Rev. W. W. Newell, D. D.,
and sung by the Syracuse Musical Institute.

ODE.
BY REV. JOHN PIERPONT.
Air — Old Hundred.
These temples,* now erect and strong,
Wherein thy Spirit, Lord of all,
Dwelleth and giveth life, ere long
Will totter, and in ruins fall.
By pious hands, beneath the shade
Of these old trees, those ruins must,
With tears, be reverently laid,
To mingle slowly, dust with dust.
Sacred, from this day, be these grounds !
Here be a quiet Sabbath kept,
While the years walk their silent rounds :
Here let our own long sleep be slept.

* 1 Cor. Ti. 19.

40 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
But, Lord, the grave, the body's bed,
Made here, is not the Spirit's prison :
We hear the angel voice, that said,
" Me is not here ; your friend is risen." t
May we, 0 Father, be so blest,
That when from earth the spirit springs,
It may mount up to thee, and rest
Beneath the covert of thy wings.
The ceremonies now over, Rev. Joseph M. Clark, of St.
James' Episcopal Church, pronounced the
BENEDICTION.
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep
yonr hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of his Son Jesus Christ, our Lord ; and the blessing of
God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, be
amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.
After the Benediction, the procession re-formed, and took
up its line of march towards the city, in the following order :
Brigadier-General Richardson and Staff.
Light Dragoons.
Miller's Regimental Band.
Drum Corps, 51st Regiment.
Fifty-first Regiment, commanded by Lieut-Col. M. E. Church, in the
following order :
Syracuse Citizens' Corps, as Guard of Honor.
Syracuse Grays.
Washington Artillery.
Major-General Brown and Staff, in Carriages.
Samsels Band.
Chief Engineer and Aids.
Fire Department, in Uniform.
Continental Hose, as Color Company.
Sutherland's Band.
German Mechanics' Association.
St. Joseph's Society, with Banner and Regalia.
Directors of Franklin Institute.
Board of Education.
Young Men's Christian Association.
Orator and Poet.
Officiating Clergymen.
Trustees of Oakwood Cemetery.

t Matt, xxviii., 6.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 41
The procession was very imposing, and drew a large num
ber of citizens into the streets, whose irregular lines marked
the route of the precession from Oakwood Cemetery to
Clinton Square, where it was dismissed.
The Syracuse & Binghamton Railroad brought large num
bers of spectators back to the city, whose presence in the
procession would have swelled it to such dimensions as would
be outside the reach of the eye.
Among the spectators present were many gentlemen from
abroad, who had stepped aside in the journey of life to wit
ness the dedication of this beautiful home of the dead — also,
most of the pastors, Catholic and Protestant, of our city.
The weather was appropriately suitable to the occasion, —
now cloudy, reminding man of the fate that awaits mortality,
— and anon bright sunshine broke out from the darkness and
illumined the horizon, typical of the bright and glorious
awakening beyond the grave.
Thus has been consecrated to the dead, a lovely spot, that
will be hallowed by us now living, as the resting place of
those who shall have gone before us, and generations yet
unborn, as that boundary line which separates us and them
from the beautiful City of the New Jerusalem.

i
RULES AND REGULATIONS.

I. — All lots shall be held in pursuance of the provisions
of Title 8th, Article 1st, Chap. 18th, Part 1st of the Revised
Statutes of the State of New York, and shall not be used
for any other purpose than as a place of burial for the dead.
II. — The Proprietor of each lot may erect any proper mon
ument or sepulchral structure thereon, and cultivate trees,
shrubs or plants on the same ; except that no 6lab shall be
set in any other than a horizontal position, unless it be at
least three inches in thickness, finished on both sides, set in
a permanent socket of stone and not exceeding two feet and
a half high and two feet wide ; and no tree growing upon
the lot or border shall be cut down or destroyed without the
consent of the Association.
III. — Vaults or Tombs are not recommended, but will be
permitted provided all but their fronts and roofs are below
ground ; built of durable materials and fitted with catacombs
in a tight and substantial manner, which shall be sealed up
with hard brick, laid in cement, immediately after the deposit
of bodies therein ; and the entrance provided with one or
more metal doors.
IV. — If any trees or shrubs situated in any lot, shall, by
means of their roots, branches, or otherwise, become detri
mental to the adjacent lots or avenues, or dangerous or in-

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 43
convenient to passengers, or may mar the effect and beauty
of the scenery, it shall be the duty of the Association, and
it shall have the right, to enter the said lot and remove the
said trees or shrubs, or such parts thereof as may be detri
mental, dangerous or inconvenient.
V. — If any monument, vault, tomb, effigy or structure
whatever, or any inscription be placed in or upon any lot.
which shall be determined by a majority of the Board of Trus
tees for the time being, to be offensive or improper, the said
Trustees shall have the right and it shall be their duty to en
ter upon such lot and remove the said offensive or improper
object or objects ; provided, however, that if said structure
or improvement shall have been made with the consent of
the Board of Trustees, the same shall not thereafter be re
moved, except by a vote of three-fourths of the Trustees.
"VX — Proprietors shall not allow interments to be made
upon their lots for a compensation, nor shall any transfer or
assignment of any lot or of any interest therein, be valid,
without the consent in writing of the Trustees, or their offi
cers, first had and endorsed upon such transfer or assignment,
nor shall any disinterment be allowed without permission
being obtained of the President or Secretary.
VII. — With a view of preserving the sylvan effect so es
sential in rural cemeteries, no enclosure of lots will be allowed
other than hedges not exceeding three and one-half feet in
height, or simple posts of iron or cut stone to designate the
corners or angles of lots, said posts to project not more than
one foot above the surface of the ground. In place of the
posts a continuous curb or coping of cut stone may encircle
the lot, provided the same be not more than one foot in
height.

44 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
VIII. — The foundations for vaults, monuments or any other
structures, shall be in accordance with the Rules or By-Laws
of the Association, and all workmen employed in such foun
dations, or in the construction of vaults, enclosing of lots,
erection of monuments, or any other work pertaining to the
improvement of the grounds, shall be under the supervision
and direction of said Association or its Agents. The grading
and trenching of all lots, the digging of graves and feunda-
tion trenches must be under the direction of an Agent of the
Association and by workmen regularly employed on the
grounds. IX. — It shall be the duty of the Board of Trustees and
they shall have the power, from time to time, to lay out or
alter such avenues or walks as they may deem proper (pro
vided the same does not interfere with lots previously dispos
ed of,) and to make such general rules and regulations for the
government, protection and improvement of the grounds as
they may deem requisite and proper to secure and promote
the general object of the Association.
X. — The Proprietors of lots and their families shall be al
lowed access to the grounds at all times, observing the rules
which are or may be adopted for the regulation of visitors.

BY-LAWS

ARTICLE I.
ELECTION OF- OFFICERS, MEETING OF TRUSTEES, &C.
Section 1. —The first Monday of March in each year, is the
day for electing Trustees, as fixed by the certificate of incor
poration. The hour and place of holding election shall be
regulated by the Trustees, notice of which shall be given by
publishing the same in at least two newspapers in the City
of Syracuse, for the space of one week before the day of
election. Sec. 2. — A meeting of the Trustees shall be held on the
day of their election, at which meeting they shall appoint a
President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and an Ex
ecutive Committee. The President, Vice President, and
Executive Committee shall hold their offices until the next
annual election of Trustees, and until others are elected in
their places. The Secretary and Treasurer shall hold their
offices during the pleasure of the Board of Trustees.
Sec. 3. — The President (and in his absence, the Vice Pres
ident,) shall preside at all meetings of the Directors, and
shall call meetings of the Board whenever he may deem it
necessary, or when requested so to do by any two members
of the Board.
Sec. 4. — The duties of the Secretary shall at all times be
subject to the Board of Directors. He shall keep the min
utes of the Board and all the Books, records and accounts of

46 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
the corporation. He shall have the custody of the real estate
of the corporation, also of its books of account, title deeds,
papers and documents of every kind. He shall collect all
monies, and pay the same over forthwith to the Treasurer.
He shall render a statement of the finances and affairs of the
corporation when called upon by the Trustees, and also a
general statement at the expiration of each year, to be ex
hibited at the annual meeting of the' members of the
corporation. Sec. 5. — The Treasurer shall receive all the funds of the
corporation and deposit the same to its credit in such Bank
as may be designated by the Board of Directors ; and the
same shall be paid out only on bills duly receipted by the
parties presenting the claim, and with the certificate of the
Auditing Committee attached to each bill. He shall render
a quarterly account of the state of the finances to the Trus
tees, and shall give bond with surety, for the faithful per
formance of his duty.
Sec. 6. — There shall be an Auditing Committee, composed
of the President or Vice President, who shall audit all ac
counts presented, and shall attach his certificate to the same
before payment shall be made by the Treasurer.
Sec 7. — The Executive Committee shall be charged with
the general care of the grounds, and perform such other
duties, as the Board from time to time may direct, and when
called upon, shall make a report of their proceedings to the
Directors. Sec. 8. — There shall be a Superintendent of the Cemetery,
who shall reside on or near the premises, and who is required
to be in attendance at every interment, and shall obtain a
statement of the name, place of nativity, residence and age

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 47
of the deceased, the disease of which he or she died, and also
whether married or unmarried, white or colored, and the
names of the parents of the deceased, and to deliver such
statement to the Secretary, by whom an accurate registry of
the same shall be made. He shall attend to the digging and
closing of graves, and shall have the general control and di
rection, under the Board of Directors, of the improvement of
the premises. He shall keep a map of the Cemetery grounds,
showing the avenues, walks, and lots, with their numbers,
and shall cause the boundaries of lots, avenues and walks to
be preserved. He shall have charge of and keep an account
of the property, tools and implements of the Association,
which may be on the premises, and shall see that the Regu
lations of the Board of Directors for the proprietors of lots,
interments, and visitors, are properly observed.
ARTICLE n.
IMPROVEMENTS.
Section 1. — To insure the proper regulation of the grounds,
the grade of all lots will be determined by the Directors.
Sec. 2. — All workmen employed in the construction of
vaults or tombs, erection of monuments &c, must be subject
to the control and direction of the Trustees or their agents,
and any workman failing to conform to this regulation, will
not be permitted afterwards to work in the grounds.
Sec. 3. — To protect the grounds, and especially improved
lots, from injury, all excavation for vaults and monuments
will be made by the Association, at the expense of the owners.
Sec. 4. — Foundations for monuments must be built of solid
stone masonry, laid in cement, and not less than six feet deep.

48 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Sec. 5. — No plaster images will be allowed on graves or
in lots.
Sec. 6. — All materials brought into the Cemetery, to be
used in improving lots or otherwise, must be transported and
deposited within the Cemetery in such a manner as the Ex
ecutive Committee or Superintendent shall direct, and all
earth or rubbish accumulated in improving lots, must be re
moved, and deposited under the direction of the Superin
tendent of the grounds, and at the expense of the proprietor
of such lot.
ARTICLE in.
INTERMENTS.
Section 1. — Graves shall not be less than six feet deep,
and shall be dug only by persons in the employ of the Asso
ciation and under the direction of the Superintendent of the
grounds. The Trustees suggest that a four inch brick wall
be built entirely around the coffin, and a stone slab laid over
it, and the earth packed above. When parties desire this,
notice must be given to the Superintendent, and the same
will be done at reasonable charge.
Sec 2. — Whenever interments are to be made, at least
eight hours previous notice thereof must be given to the Su
perintendent, and at the same time the size of the coffin,
measured on the top ; or, if in a case, the size of the case
should be mentioned. And when interments are to be made
in private lots, the location of the grave in the lot should be
stated. In case the above notice is not given, an extra
charge may be made for digging the grave.
Seo. 3.— It is proposed to erect a Receiving Tomb for the

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 49
purpose of depositing bodies therein during the winter
months, and for the accommodation of those who intend to
purchase lots. Thirty days from the time of deposit in the
Tomb will be allowed for making the selection of lot and re
moving the remains.
Sec. 4. — Interments are subject to the following charges,
to be paid to the Secretary, before or at the time of inter
ment, namely :
Opening, closing and sodding the grave of a person over
twelve years old, three dollars.
Opening, closing and sodding the grave of a child under
twelve years old, two dollars.
Opening a tomb, one dollar.
Three dollars shall be paid for depositing and retaining a
body in the Receiving Tomb for the space of thirty days ;
three dollars for an additional term of six months, and three
dollars for each month thereafter.
Sec. 5. — Single graves may be procured in public lots ap
propriated for that purpose, at eight dollars each, for an adult,
and five dollars for a child ; which price will include the
opening, closing and sodding the grave. If lots should af
terwards be purchased, and the bodies removed, the full cost
of the graves located will be allowed, after deducting the ex
penses for the original interment and for the disinterment of
the remains.
ARTICLE IV."
CONCERNING VISITORS. '
[A map is being prepared. By examining this, and giv
ing due attention to the guide boards, visitors will find no
difficulty in passing through the grounds.]

SO OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Section 1. — Each proprietor of a lot will be entitled to a
ticket of admission into the Cemetery with a vehicle, under
the following regulations, the violation of which, or a loan of
the ticket, involves a forfeiture of the privilege.
Sec. 2. — No vehicle will be admitted unless accompanied
by a proprietor, or member of his or her household, with his
or her ticket, or unless presenting a special ticket of admis-
.sion obtained at the office of the Cemetery, or of a Trustee.
Sec. 3. — On Sundays and holydays the gates will be closed.
Proprietors of lots, however, will be admitted, on foot, by
applying to the Keeper at the lodge.
Sec. 4. — Fast driving will be especially prohibited, and no
vehicle will be allowed to pass through the grounds at a rate
exceeding three miles an hour.
Sec. 5. — No persons or parties having refreshments to sell,
will be permitted to come within the grounds, nor will any
smoking be allowed.
Sec. 6. — No horse may be left by the driver in the grounds
unfastened. Hitching posts are provided for that purpose.
Any person violating the above rule, or fastening his horse
to a tree, will be required by the Superintendent to leave the
grounds forthwith.
Sec. 7. — All persons are prohibited from writing upon,
defacing, or otherwise injuring any monument, fence, or
other structure in or belonging to the Cemetery, or from
picking any flowers, either wild or cultivated, or injuring any
tree, shrub or plant.
Sec. 8. — Any person disturbing the quiet and good order
of the place, by noise or other improper conduct, will be
compelled instantly to leave the grounds.
Sec. 9.— The gates will be opened at sunrise, and closed
for entrance) at sunset.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 51
Visitors are reminded that these grounds are appropriated
exclusively to the interment of the dead. It is therefore in
dispensable that there should be a strict observance of all the
proprieties due to the place. The Superintendent, being
clothed with the powers of a special policeman, will be re
quired to arrest disorderly persons.

SUGGESTIONS TO LOT OWNERS.

Durability of Improvements. — When it is borne in mind
that the design of this Association is to provide family burial,
not merely for the present, or succeeding, but for many, and
for all future generations, too much importance cannot be
attached to the form and manner of the improvements made
by the proprietors of lots. To render the grounds increas
ingly attractive, not only should good taste pervade every
improvement and embellishment, but the materials used for
enclosures and monumental structures should be of such a
nature, and the mode of construction of such a kind, as to
secure the greatest possible degree of durability and perma
nency. Unless great care is exercised in these particulars,
the lapse of a few years will give to the grounds the appear
ance of dilapidation and decay. If, however, proper care
and attention be exercised in designing, ordering, and exe
cuting the improvements to be made, and especially if lot
owners will avail themselves of the wise provisions of the
general law, for the repair, preservation and renewal of the

52 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
various enclosures, monuments and tombs which are or may
be erected, they will ensure to themselves and their succes
sors for many generations, not only a permanent, but a de
cent and tasteful place of repose for the dead.
Monuments. — In regard to monuments, too much care and
attention cannot be bestowed, if by such attention, perma
nency be secured. The foundation should be laid strongly
in cement, and be not less than six feet deep — the usual
depth of graves. The stone of which the structure is made,
should in all cases be solid, and made to lie on a natural
bed. Monuments built up, faced with thin slabs of marble
or stone, and filled in with common masonry, will not last.
It is a species of veneering and mantle-piece viork, that will
not long abide the exposure to which it is subjected- nor
will stone, if solid, long endure, unless it be made to lie on
what is termed its natural bed. Most kinds of stone and
marble are composed of different strata, or layers, like the
leaves of a book. If the stones are placed edgewise, or ver
tically, so as to expose the strata to tjie action of the weather
and the frost, they will, in time, split asunder and the whole
structure will fall into ruin and decay.
Tombs. — The same remarks will apply with equal if not
greater force, in respect to tombs built in part or wholly
above ground. In such structures great care is needed in
the plan and construction which may be adopted. The
stones should be of sufficient size to extend frequently
through the wall, not mere slabs set up on the edge, forming
no bond of union between the outer and inner surface.
Where angles occur, each alternate course should unite the
walls by means of solid stones cut to the angle required, so

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 53
as to render a separation of the walls impossible, unless by a
general destruction of the whole. When placed in the hill
side, the parts above the natural surface should be of cut stone,
the sides as well as the front, so as to avoid all artificial em
bankments and sodding. In this way the natural form of the
hill will be preserved, unseemly, artificial mounds will be
prevented, and, ultimately, much expense will be saved in
being free from the necessity, which will otherwise exist, of
frequently renewing and repairing the embankments which
are made. The roof should always be of stone tiles, or of
flagging, the former being more tasteful, is to be preferred.
Tombs faithfully built in this way, may safely be depended
upon for centuries.
Vaults. — Vaults under ground should be built of stone
walls at least 18 inches thick, with arch of hard brick 12
inches thick, and all laid in the best of cement ; lime should
not be used for work, under ground ; nor is it well to use it
any way for monumental purposes when good fresh cement
can be procured. *
Variety in Monuments. — As the permanency of monu
ments and their enclosures is essential to the decent appear
ance of the grounds, so are the character and variety of the
structures essential to a permanently pleasing effect on the
mind. On this subject, also, too much thought can hardly
be bestowed. The experience of other similar institutions
appeals strongly and opportunely on this point to the lot-
qwners. They have it in their power, at this early period
in the history of the institution, to avoid an error of which
the others so justly complain. In a recent publication of the

54 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Laurel Hill Cemetery Association, of Philadelphia, occurs
the following passage :
"There is another suggestion which the managers feel it
their duty to make to lot owners ; they trust it will be re
ceived as an evidence that they are anxious to unite in car
rying out the original intention of creating at Laurel Hill a
toute ensemble which shall evince that, with superior facili
ties, there is growing up an improved taste in monumental
sculpture. It has been the frequent remark of visitors — our
own citizens as well as strangers — that a monotony already
begins to be apparent in the style and form of the improve
ments ; obelisk succeeds obelisk, etc., with only slight varia
tions, and if this is continued, we shall see, in time, too dull
a uniformity to strike the mind with agreeable sentiments.
This may be obviated by a little more enquiry before order
ing a monument, and by not always taking the advice of the
stone-mason, often himself willing to suggest the greatest
bulk for the least money, and thus allowing marble to usurp
the place of good taste." * * *
"A correct idea, expressed in marble, may be very beau
tiful, so long as it is unique ; but by too frequent imitation,
and in too close proximity with its original, it may destroy
the charm of the first, and ultimately raise feelings in the
beholder the reverse of those desired."
It can hardly be doubted that these remarks, so forcibly
expressive of true criticism and correct taste, will exercise
a favorable and justly controlling influence on the future
improvements erected by the proprietors of Oakwood.
Inscriptions on Monuments. — A suggestion on this sub
ject is ventured with diffidence, yet not without hope that it

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 55
may be of some use. While good taste proscribes, in all
cases, fulsome eulogies of the departed, it does not forbid all
notice of their virtues. The best feelings of our nature seem
to demand something more than a mere record of name and
birth and death. A simple, brief and appropriate epitaph
proves not less interesting and instructive to the casual pas
ser by, than to those who mourn more deeply the loss of
those whom it commemmorates. Nor will it be one of the
least objects of interest to those who in after times visit these
grounds, to read the records which friendship and affection
place here upon the monumental stone.
Shrubbery. — In regard to shrubbery it will be well to re
member that only certain kinds will do well in the shade.
In ordering plants, therefore, satisfactory information on this
point ought to be obtained before designating such as are to
be placed under the foliage of the forest.
Aid to Proprietors. — Proprietors contemplating making
improvements will have every facility extended to them by
the Superintendent, who will furnish information, and, if de.
sired, superintend the execution of work.
Importance of Improvements. — It is much to be wished
that lot-owners generally would make their improvements as
early as their convenience will permit. Every improvement
made, adds, in a greater or less degree, to the appearance and
interest of the grounds.
Care of Lots. — It is very desirable, as well for the general
appearance of the Cemetery, as for the satisfaction of propri
etors, that such lots as are improved should be kept in proper

56 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
order, the grass cut, the weeds eradicated and the shrubbery
carefully attended to. Those who wish their lots taken care
of in this way, may have it done for the sum of two dollars
each lot per annum, it being understood that it is optional
with with them to make this arrangement or not, as they
may desire.

APPENDIX A.

FORM OF DEED.

Know all men by these Presents, that the Cemetery Asso
ciation known by the corporate name of " Oakwood," in con
sideration of Dollars, to them paid by
the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do here
by grant, bargain, sell and convey to the said
heirs and assigns, Lot in Section in
the Cemetery of the said Association, called "Oakwood,"
situate in and adjoining the City of Sjracuse, in the State of
New York; which Lot delineated and laid down on
the Register Map or Plan of the said Cemetery, in the pos
session of the said Association, and therein designa
ted by the number containing superficial
feet. To Have and to Hold the herein above granted prem
ises to the said heirs and assigns, forever; subject,
however, to the conditions and limitations, and with the priv
ileges specified in the Rules and Regulations, hereto annex
ed. And the said Association of Oakwood do hereby cove
nant to and with the said heirs and assigns, that they
are lawfully seized of the herein above granted premises, in
fee simple ; that they have a right to sell and convey the
same for the purposes above expressed, and that they will

58 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
warrant and defend the same unto the said heirs and
assigns forever.
In Testimony Whereof, the said Association of Oakwood
have caused this instrument to be signed by their
President, and their Common Seal to be hereto affixed,
this day of in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and

APPENDIX B.

[ ARTICLE OF AGREEMENT.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
In consideration of the sum of Dollars, for which
has given his Promissory Note, the Association,
known as Oakwood, hereby promises and agrees to and with
the said that when the said Note paid, they
will execute and deliver to him or his assigns such a convey
ance for Lot No. in Section No. in the Cemetery of
said Association, as is provided by the Rules and By-Laws
of said Association. But in case of failure to pay said Note
then this contract is, in the discretion of said Association,
forfeited and annulled, and the Association may, in their dis
cretion, enter on said Lot, and again sell the same, without
notice.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 59
Witness the hand of the President and Secretary of the
Board of Trustees of said Association, this day
of in the year of our Lord 18

Secretary.

President.

APPENDIX C.

CERTIFICATE OF INDEBTEDNESS.

THE RURAL CEMETERY AT SYRACUSE, KNOWN AND DESIGNATED BY
THE NAME OF " OAKWOOD."
The Association called " Oakwood," does hereby Certify,
that of -has subscribed for the purpose of
purchasing the lands conveyed to the said Association, the
sum of and has given his Promissory Notes for the
said sum of with interest from the 16th day of Au
gust last. Now it is hereby agreed, by the said Association,
that one-half of the money received, on the sale of lots in the
said Cemetery lands, is hereby pledged to the re-payment of
the subscribers aforesaid, for the amounts which they shall
respectively pay on the said notes, until the whole amount
thereof, with interest, is paid, and that the said will
be entitled to his pro-rata share of such receipts, as the same
are from time to time realized, until he shall have received
full payment of the amount that he may have paid on said
Notes with interest.

60 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Witness, The Subscription of the names of the President
and Secretary of the said Association hereto, this
day of 18 President.
Secretary.

APPENDIX D.

ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION.

To whom it may concern — Greeting :
This is to certify that the persons mentioned herein, resi
dents of the State of New York, desiring to form an Asso
ciation for the purpose of procuring and holding lands to be
used exclusively for a Cemetery, or place for the burial of
the dead, did meet on the fifteenth day of August, 1859, at
the mayor's Office, in Syracuse, being the time and place
agreed upon, and appointed Elias W. Leavenworth, of said
city of Syracuse, Chairman, and L. W. Hall, of the same
place, Secretary, by the unanimous vote of the persons pre
sent at the said meeting, and proceeded in all respects under
and pursuant to the provisions of the act entitled " an act
authorizing the Incorporation of Rural Cemetery Associa
tions," passed April 27, 1847, and the acts amending the
same. That the following named associates attended said meeting :

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 61
Curtis Moses, Ira Gage Barnes, E. W. Leavenworth, Hamil
ton White, J. Dean Hawley, A. C. Powell, H. W. Van Bu-
ren, I. S. Spencer, G. L. Maynard, Charles Andrews, T. R.
Porter, J. P. Haskins, F. Wellington, L. W. Hall, Allen
Munroe, John White, Ira H. Williams, and Thomas B. Fitch.
That thereupon, the said meeting, by a vote of a majority of
its members, determined on Oakwood as the name by which
the said Association should be called and known.
That the number of Trustees fixed upon to manage the
concerns of said Association is twelve. That the names of
the Trustees chosen at said meeting, and who were duly elect
ed by ballot, pursuant to said law, at said meeting, are Ham
ilton White, J. P. Haskins, Elias W. Leavenworth, John
Crouse, John Wilkinson, Archibald C. Powell, Allen Mun
roe, Thomas G. Alvord, Timothy R. Porter, Rob't G. Wyn-
koop, J. Dean Hawley and Austin Myers. That immediate
ly after said election the said Trustees were divided by lot
by said Chairman and Secretary, and classified pursuant to
said law, as follows: Elias W. Leavenworth, Austin Myers,
James P. Haskins and John Wilkinson, constitute the first
class, and Archibald C. Powell, Allen Munroe, Robert G.
Wynkoop and Thomas G. Alvord, constitute the second class,
and John Crouse, Timothy R. Porter, Hamilton White and
J. Dean Hawley, constitute the third class, and that the first
Monday in March, in each year, is the day fixed upon by
said meeting for the Annual Election of said Trustees.
E. W. LEAVENWORTH, Chairman.
L.-W. Hall, Secretary.

62 OAKWOOD CEMETERY. ,
STATE OF NEW-YORK,)
Onondaga County. — ss. )
On this 17th day of August, 1859,
personally appeared before me, the above named Elias W.
Leavenworth and L. W. Hall, to me well known, and known
to be the same persons described in and who executed
the above certificate, and they severally acknowledge the
due execution of the same.
Sam'l H. Edwards,
Com'r of Deeds, of Syracuse.

APPENDIX E.

COPY OF SUBSCRIPTION.

In case a Rural Cemetery Association shall be organized,
and shall purchase the premises now in contemplation, con
sisting of about ninety acres, belonging to Messrs. Baker and
Raynor, or the twenty acres of Mr. Baker, we, the subscri
bers, severally agree that we will, on demand, deliver to said
Association, satisfactory negotiable promissory notes, or oth
er good satisfactory security, for the sums set opposite our
names respectively, for the purpose of defraying the cost of
such land and improving the same. Said notes or other se
curities to be on interest, and if amounting in the aggregate
to two hundred and fifty dollars or over, they shall be paya-

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

63

ble in three equal annual installments, with interest annually,
and if amounting to less than two hundred and fifty dollars,
they shall be payable in eight, sixteen and twenty-four
months ; said notes to be all on interest, and payable at
Bank. The amount which we shall respectively pay on said notes
to be repaid to us respectively, with interest, by said Asso
ciation, in the manner mentioned in Chap. 133, of the Laws
of 1847, viz : One-half at least of all the proceeds of the
sales of lots in said Cemetery to be divided annually, and
paid over to us respectively, according to the amount of pay
ments made by us respectively ; and the price of any lot or
lots which any of us may purchase in said Cemetery, will
apply as so much repayment on sums paid on said notes.
This subscription not to be binding, unless at least twenty-
five thousand dollars are subscribed. In forming said Asso
ciation, each of the subscribers shall be notified of the time
and place of meeting, by circulars deposited in the Post Of
fice, at Syracuse, directed to us severally, at the place set
opposite our respective names, at least three days before the
meeting ; and in selecting Trustees, each subscriber present
at the meeting shall be entitled to a vote on each twenty-five
dollars he may have subscribed hereto ; the Trustees to be
selected from the subscribers.
In case only the twenty acres of Mr. Baker shall be bought,
then the subscriptions shall be reduced to two-fifths of their
amounts, or to the sum of $10,000.
Syracuse, May 31st, 1859.

64 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
Horace & Ham'l White, Syracuse  $2,500
John Crouse,  •  1,000
B. W, Leavenworth,  1,000
John Wilkinson,  1,000
C. T. Longstreet,  1,000
L. H. Redfield, Syracuse,  800
Arch'd C. Powell, "  500
Allen Munroe,  1,000
Thomas G. Alvord,  500
Israel S. Spencer,  . 500
J. P. Haskin,  500
A. A. Howlett,  300
John D. Norton,  500
B. Burton,  500
Ira Gage Barnes,  500
Geo. F. Comstock,  500
W. H. Shankland,  .-  500
Geo. L. Maynard,  250
Austin Myers,  1,000
Joseph Seymour,  100
McDougall, Fenton & Co.,  250
H. N. White,  100
C. Tallman, Syracuse,  ". . . . 250
H. B. Wilbur, Syracuse,  100
Curtis Moses, "  100
For Mrs. Eliza Hoyt, "   100
J.L.Bagg,  250
Richard Cloyde, "  50
Sidney Stanton,  250
Geo. N. Kennedy,  250
George Barnes,  250
E.T. Wright,  250
T. R. Porter,  300
Thomas B. Fitch,  300
A. C. Yates,  ,  250

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 65
O.T.Burt. Three Hundred dollars  300
J. W. Barker, Two Hundred and fifty do.,  250
Charles Andrews,  250
C. B. Sedgwick,  250
Hi W. Van Buren,  ,  300
Ira H. Williams,  100
D.Pjatt,  100
J. L.. Cook & Sons  309
Lyman Clary  100
F. Wellington,  -  300
Clinton F. Paige, One Hundred doll's,  100
Wynkoop & Brother, One Hundred Dollars,  100
Willard & Hawley, One Hundred Doll's,  100
H. W. Sloeum,  100
John White,  150
R. Raynor,  150
D.S. Smith  100
L. H. & F. Hiscock,  150
J. G. Greenway, Three Hundred dollars,  300
Jo's F. Sabine,  100
W. Winton,  100
Kehyon & Potter,  200
H. Riegel,  50
D. McDougall, charged to McD. & Co.,  100
L. W. Hall, One Hundred dollars,  100
John J. Crouse,  ,  200
Jacob Crouse,  10Q
M. H. Church,  100

66 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
APPENDIX E.

NAMES OF VOTERS.

Ayes. — Aaron Burt, Wm. B. Kirk, Tho.'s Rose, I. Tallman ,
J. Fancher, Hervey Rhoades, C. A. Huntoon, Reuben L.
Hess, Tho.'s B. Hoyt, W. W. Wells, L. Messenger, Ralph R.
Phelps, Josiah Brintnall, John F. Wyman, J. B. Huntington,
Oliver Teall, James G. Tracy, E. H. Hough, E. Cook, Amos
Benedict, T. E. Hastings, Obed Baxter, D. McCormick, Wm.
Malcolm, Joseph Savage, S. Steenburgh, I. Lewis, J. DeWitt
Rose, Nathan Van Benscoten, A. Page, L. Palmer, H. T.
Gibson, Rob't Furman, Geo. Smith, Lyman Walker, Elisha
F. Wallace, John H. Lathrop, Samuel B. Ward, Cyril H.
Brackett, R. Seager, Albert A. Hudson, Silas Bliss, P. W.
Hudson, A. Hughes, Asahel L. Smith, Jabez Hawley, Jared
F. Phelps, Rial Wright, Lyman Clary, Stephen W. Cadwell,
Henry Gifford, J. Mayo, B. W. Snow, Wm. Barker, John
Wilkinson, Bradley Carey, J. Schuneman. — 57.
Nays. — Samuel Lamed, Elijah Phillips, Vivus W. Smith,
Isaac T. Minard, Eli H. Sherman, Elihu L. Phillips, Nelson
D. Phillips, Ziba Cogswell, Wm. W. Teall, Isaac Stanton,
Paschal Thurber, Zebina Dwight, B. F. Topliff, Stephen V.
R. Van Heusen, Horace Butts, John Phillips, Joel Cody,
C. White, Cha's Goings, E. Wynkoop, Daniel Groff, Wm.
Jackson, A. C. Morehouse, W. Hamilton, Nathan Killmar,
Ab'm Killmar, Aaron Wood, Henry Newton, Lyman Be-
ment, John H. Johnson, Mather Williams, Lewis H. Redfield,
Rob't W. Nolton, John B. Wicks, Julius J. Wood, E. D.
Long, H. P. Hart, Henry Agnew, James Huff, Charles A.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 67
Baker, Joseph Slocum, H. Snow, E. B. Wicks, John Newell,
Benjamin B. Bacheller, Amos P. Granger, Silas Ames, W.
Paine, John Tripp, Caleb Davis, Geo, H. Booth, Timothy C.
Cheney, Alex. McKinstry, Archibald L. Fellows, David A.
Smith, John Murphy, T. G. Griffith, W. Y. Wilson, Pliny
Dickinson, Zaccheus T. Newcomb, Theodore Ashley, Orrin
Hutchinson, Wm. Tousley, Hiram Judson, Richard Raynor,
Andrew N. Van Patten, C. Tyler Longstreet, Zophar H. Ad
ams, Elijah T. Hayden, Willet Raynor, Montgomery Mer
rick, Jonathan Baldwin, Wm. B. Abbott, B. G. Stafford, Tho's
T. Davis, B. Wiesmore, M. Phillips, Amos Story, A. Durn-
ford.— 79.

APPENDIX G.

ACT AS TO INCORPORATIONS.

[

ARTICLE FIRST.1

Of Bural Cemetery Associations.]
Sec. 1. Associations may be formed; their style: trustees and their classification.
2. Certificate oi incorporation to be made and recorded.
3. On recording it corporation formed.
4. It may acquire and hold not exceeding 200 acres of land ; to be surveyed,
&c. ; sale of plats; may hold personal property.
5. Election of trustees.
6. Trustees to report annually.
7. Lots to be indivisible ; agreement as to payment for lands.
8. Consent of boards of supervisors, in the counties of "Westchester, Kings
and Qneens, necessary to possession of land for cemetery purposes.
9. Certain ecclesiastical corporations in said counties allowed to use buri
al grounds as formerly.
10. Boards of supervisors of said counties to make regulations concerning
burials in cemeteries.
11. Incorporations desiriog to use lands for cemeteries, required to give no
tice of application to supervisors ; contents of notices ; proceed
ings to be had.
12. Sections 1 and 2 of act apply to associations heretofore and hereafter
formed.
18. Penalty for willful trespasses to grounds, &c.
14. Association may hold property in trust for embellishment of cemetery.
15. Cemetery exempt from taxation; not liable to sale on execution; streets
not to be laid through it.
16. Transfers of lots to individual s ; to be inalienable in certain cases ; sale
of lots to be made without filing map of lot.
IT. The legislature may alter or repeal this act.
18. Amendment of fifth section.
19. Proviso as to associations already formed.
corpora- *§1. Any number of persons residing in this State,
tions how —
tobecrea-no{. less than seven, -who shall desire to form an asso
ciation for the purpose of procuring and holding lands
to be used exclusively for a cemetery, or place of bu-
lThis article consists of chapter 133 of the Laws of 1847, entitled u An act au
thorizing the incorporation of rural cemetery associations," with the acts Bince
passed amending it. The original numbering of the sections is retained within
brackets where practicable.

OAKWOOD CEMETERT. 69
rial for the dead, may meet at such time and place as
they or a majority of them may agree, and appoint a
chairman and secretary by the vote of a majority of
the persons present at the meeting; and proceed to
form an association by determining on a corporate
name, by which the association shall be called and
known ; by determining on the number of trustees to
manage the concerns of the association, which num
ber shall not be less than six nor more than twelve ;
and thereupon may proceed to elect by ballot the num
ber of trustees so determined on ; and the chairman
and secretary shall immediately after such election,
divide the trustees by lot into three classes ; those in
the first class to hold their office one year, those in the
second class two years, and those in the third class
three years. But the trustees of each class may be
re-elected if they shall possess the qualification here
inafter mentioned. The meeting shall also determine
on what day in each year, the future annual elections
of trustees shall be held.
*§2. The chairman and secretary of the meeting °of"neor!
. poration.
shall, within three days after such meeting, make a
written certificate, and sign their names thereto, and
acknowledge the same before an officer authorized to
take proof and acknowledgment of conveyances in
the county where such meeting shall have been held,
which, certificate shall state the names of the associ
ates who attended such meeting; the corporate name
of the association, determined upon by the majority
of the persons who met ; the number of trustees fixed

70 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
on to manage the concerns of the association ; the
names of the trustees chosen at the meeting and their
classification, and the day fixed on for the annual elec
tion of trustees ; which certificate it shall be the duty
of the chairman and secretary of such meeting to cause
to be recorded in the clerk's office of the county in
which the meeting was held, in a book to be appro
priated to the recording of certificates of incorpora
tion.
General . *§3, Upon such certificate, duly acknowledged as
aforesaid being recorded, the association mentioned
therein shall be deemed legally incorporated, and shall
have and possess the general powers and privileges,
and be subject to the liabilities and restrictions con
tained in the third title of the eighteenth chapter of
part first of the Revised Statutes. The affairs and
property of such association shall be managed by the
trustees, who shall annually appoint from among their
number a president and a vice-president, and shall al
so appoint a secretary and a treasurer, who shall hold
their places during the pleasure of the board of trus
tees ; and the trustees may require the treasurer to
give security for the faithful performance of the du-
inToffl"of ties of his office ; and shall have power to fill any va-
president ,
or-dicet cancy in tne °ffice of president or vice-president oc
curring during the year for which they hold their of
fice. [As amended 1852, ch. 280, §2.]
Land may .... - i , .
be pur- *s4r. Any association incorporated under this act,
hnanri for u " L '
may take by purchase or devise, and hold within the
county in which the certificate of their incorporation

chased for
cemeteries

OAKWOOD CEMETEKY. 71
is recorded, not exceeding two hundred acres of land ;
to be held and occupied exclusively for a cemetery
for the burial of the dead. Such land or such parts
thereof, as may from time to time be required for that
purpose, shall be surveyed and subdivided into lots or
plats of such size as the trustees may direct, with such
avenues, paths, alleys and walks as the trustees deem
proper ; and a map or maps of such surveys shall be
filed in the clerk's office of the county in which the
land shall be situated. And after filing such map, the
trustees may sell and convey the lots and plats desig
nated on such map, upon such terms as shall be agreed,
and subject to such conditions and restrictions to be
inserted in or annexed to the conveyances, as the trus
tees shall prescribe. The conveyances to be executed
under the common seal of the association, and signed
by the president or vice-president and the treasurer
of the association. Any association incorporated un
der this act may hold personal property to an amount
not exceeding five thousand dollars, besides what may
arise from the sale of lots or plats.
*§5. The annual election for trustees to supply the Election
o re j oftrustee»
place of those whose term of office expires shall be
holden on the day mentioned in the certificate of in
corporation, and at such hour and place as the trus
tees shall direct ; at which election shall be chosen
such number of trustees as will supply the places of
those whose term expires. The trustees chosen at any
election subsequent to the first shall hold their places
for three years and until others shall be chosen to sue-

72 OAKWOOD CEMETEEY.
ceed them. The election shall be by ballot, and eve
ry person of full age who shall be proprietor of a lot
or plat in the cemetery of the association containing
not less than two hundred square feet of land, or if
there be more than one proprietor of any such lot or
plat then such one of the proprietors as the majority
see post of joint proprietors shall designate to represent such
lot or plat, may either in person or by proxy give one
vote for each plat or lot of the dimensions aforesaid ;
and the persons receiving a majoity of all the votes
given at such election shall be trustees to succeed
those whose term of office expires. But in all elections
after the first the trustees shall be chosen from among
the proprietors of lots or plats ; and the trustees shall
have power to fill any vacancy in their number occur
ring during the period for which they hold their office.
Public notice of the annual elections shall be given in
such manner as the by-laws of the corporation shall
prescribe. [As amended 1851, ch. 358, §1.J
Trustees *§6. The trustees at each annual election shall make
to report. reports to the lot proprietors of their doings and of
the management and condition of the property and
concerns of the associatjon. If the annual election
shall not be held on the day fixed in the certificate
of incorporation the trustees shall have power to ap
point another day, not more than sixty days thereaf
ter, and shall give public notice of the time and place,
at which time the election may be held with like ef
fect as if holden on the day fixed on in the certificate.
The office of the trustees chosen at such time to expire

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 73
at the same time as if they had been chosen at the day
fixed by the certificate of incorporation.
*§7. All lots or plats of ground designated on the S™'
maps filed as aforesaid and numbered thereon as sep- separate
lots to be
arate lots by the incorporation shall be indivisible but indiTisible
may be held and owned in undivided shares ; but any
lots or plats so designated and numbered remaining
unsold and in which there shall have been no inter
ment may by order of the trustees be resurveyed, en
larged, subdivided or altered in shape or size, and de
signated by numbers or otherwise on any map or
maps which may be filed pursuant to the fourth sec
tion of the act hereby amended ; one-half at least of
the proceeds of all sales of lots or plats shall be first
appropriated to the payment of the purchase money
of the lands acquired by the association until the
whole purchase money shall be paid, and the residue
thereof to preserving, improving and embellishing
the said cemetery grounds and the avenues or roads
leading thereto, and to defray the incidental expenses
of the cemetery establishment ; and after the payment
of the purchase money and the debts contracted there
for and for surveying and laying out the land, the pro
ceeds of all future sales shall be applied to the im
provement, embellishment and preservation of such
cemetery and for incidental expenses, and to no other
purpose or object.
Associations formed under this act may also agree Agreement
with the person or persons from whom cemetery lands men°t fo7"
r ' lands.
shall be purchased, to pay for such lands as the pur-

74 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
chase price thereof any specified share or portion not
exceeding one-half the proceeds of all sales of lots
or plats made from such lands, in which case the share
or portion of such proceeds so agreed upon, not ex
ceeding one-half thereof, shall be first appropriated
and applied to the payment of the purchase money of
the lands so acquired, and the residue thereof shall
be appropriated to preserving, improving and embel
lishing the said cemetery grounds and the avenues
or roads leading thereto, and to defraying the inciden
tal expenses of the cemetery establishment. In all
cases where cemetery lands shall be purchased and
agreed to be paid for in the manner hereinbefore last
provided the prices for lots or plats specified in the by
laws, rules and regulations first adopted by any such
association shall not be changed without the written
consent of a majority in interest of the persons from
whom the cemetery lands were purchased, their heirs,
representatives or assigns. [As amended 1852, ch. 280,
§1, and 1853, ch. 122, §1.]
?f08nupeenrvi- *§8. It shall not.be lawful for any rural cemetery,
visors ne
cessary to hereafter incorporated under the act hereby amended,
possession L ** 7
of land. t0 take ^y deed, devise or otherwise, any land in either
of the counties of Westchester, Kings or Queens, or
set apart any ground for cemetery purposes therein,
without the consent of the board of supervisors of such
county first had and obtained as provided for by this
act ; nor shall it be lawful for any person or incorpo
ration not incorporated under said act, to take as afore
said or set apart or use any land or ground in either
of said counties for cemetery purposes, without the

OAKWOOD CEMETERY. 75
consent of the board of supervisors of such county first
had and obtained in like manner as provided for in
this act ; and said board of supervisors in granting
such consent may annex thereto such conditions, reg
ulations and restrictions as such board may deem the
public health or the public good to require. [1852, ch.
280, v3, as amended 1854, ch. 238, §1.J
*§9. Nothing contained in the preceding section EccleBias.
t n , . . <¦ . . tical cor-
shall prevent any ecclesiastical incorporation now or- porations
r J r allowedto
ganized in either of said counties from using any bu-"*^™1'
rial ground now belonging to it within such county, iy.
as it has been heretofore accustomed. [1854, ch. 238,
§2-] *§10. The board of supervisors of each of said coun- supervi sors to
ties is authorized to make from time to time, such reg- ™,|tf0^g"
ulations as to the mode of burials in any cemetery
within their bounds as they shall judge the public
health or public decency to require, and it shall not
be lawful to disobey such regulations. [Same ch.. §3.]
*§11. Any such incorporation desiring to use any When in
lands for cemetery purposes, or take a conveyance Sonde" sires to
thereof, shall cause notice to be published once a week^any
for six weeks in every newspaper published in thenouce8"'"
county in which such lands are situated, of their in
tention to apply to the board of supervisors of such
county, stating the time at which such application
will be made for the consent mentioned in the first
section of this act. Such notice shall contain a brief
description of the lands for which such consent is ask
ed and also their location and the number of acres.

76

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

At such meeting upon due proof of the publicatio n
of the notice above mentioned the applicants and re
monstrants, if any, may be heard in person and by
counsel, and thereupon if such board shall grant con
sent, it shall be lawful for such incorporation to take
and hold the lands designated in such consent not ex
ceeding two hundred and fifty acres in any county.
[1852, ch. 280, §4.]
Stakes8 *§12- Thl's act shall take effect immediately, and
Parts' to the first and second sections hereof shall apply as well
apply to rr J
uonshere- to associations heretofore organized as to such as may
hereafter be hereafter. [1852, ch. 280, §5.1
formed Penalty. *§13. [Sec. 8.] Any person who shall wilfully de
stroy, mutilate, deface injure or remove any tomb,
monument, grave stone, building or other structure,
placed in any cemetery of any association incorpora
ted under this act, or any fence, railing or other work
for the protection or ornament thereof, or of any tomb,
monument, or gravestone, or other structures aforesaid,
or of any plat or lot within such cemetery, or shall
wilfnlly destroy, cut, break or injure any tree, shrub
or plant, within the limits of such cemetery, shall be
deem.d guilty of a misdemeanor; and such offender
shall also be liable in an action of trespass, to be
brought in all such cases in the name of such associ
ation, to pay all such damages as shall have been oc
casioned by his unlawful act or acts. Such money
when recovered shall be applied by the trustees to the
reparation or restoration of the property so destroyed
or injured.

OAKWOOD CEMETERY.

77

*§14. [Sec. 9.] Any association incorporated pursu- maybe y
ant to this act may take and hold anv property, real trust for
J j r l j ' improving
or personal, bequeathed or given upon trust, to apply eemeiery-
the income thereof under the direction of the trus
tees of such association, for the improvement or em
bellishment of such cemetery or the erection or pres
ervation of any buildings, structures, fences or walks
erected or to be erected upon the lands of such cem
etery association, or upon the lots or plats of any of
the proprietors ; or for the repair, preservation, erec
tion or renewal of any tomb, monument, grave-stone,
fence, railing or other erection in or around any cem
etery lot or plat ; or for planting and cultivating trees,
shrubs, flowers or plants in or around any such lot or
plat ; or for improving or embellishing such cemetery
in any other manner or form, consistent with the de
sign and purposes of the association according to the
terms of such grant, devise or bequest.
*§15. [Sec. 10.] The cemetery lands and property cemetery
of any association formed pursuant to this act, shall tiMetl be sold.
be exempt from all public taxes, rates and assessments,
and shall not be liable to be sold on execution, or be
applied in payment of debts due from any individual
proprietors. But the proprietors of lots or plats in
such cemeteries, their heirs or devisees may hold the
same exempt therefrom so long as the same shall re
main dedicated to the purpose of a cemetery, and du
ring that time no street, road, avenue or thoroughfare
shall be laid through such cemetery, or any part of
the lands held by such association for the purposes

78 OAKWOOD CEMETERY.
aforesaid, without the consent of the trustees of such
association, except by special permission of the legis
lature of the state.
Transfer *§16. [Sec. 11.] Whenever the said land shall be
piats to in- laid off into lots or plats, and such lots or plats or any
dividuals. of them shall be transferred to individual holders, and
after there shall have been an interment in a lot or
plat so transferred, such lot or plat from the time of
such first interment shall be forever thereafter inalien
able, and shall upon the death of the holder or pro
prietor thereof descend to the heirs at law of such
holder or proprietor, and to their heirs at law forever :
Provided, nevertheless, that any one or more of 6uch
heirs at law may release to any other of the said heirs
at law, his, her or their interest in the same on such
conditions as shall be agreed on and specified in such
release, a copy of which release shall be filed with the
town clerk of the town or the register of the city
within which the said cemetery shall be situated. — ¦
And provided further, that the body of any deceased
person shall not be interred in such lot or plat unless
it be the body of a person having at the time of such
decease an interest in such lot or plat, or the relative
of some person having such interest, or the wife of
such person or her relative, except by the consent of
all persons having an interest in such lot or plat.
sale ofiota It shall be lawful for the trustees of any cemeterv
to be made J J
Hrl^map** association to sell and convey lots and plats of ground
0 within the cemetery limits as shown on the map of
the same, filed in the office of the clerk of the coun-

OAKWOOD CEMETERY'. 79
ty wherein the same may be situated, without previ
ously filing in the said clerk's office a map of each lot
so intended to be conveyed; provided, however, thatPro™°-
the said corporation shall preserve a map of each lot
and plat conveyed, and on which shall be designated
the number thereof. [As amended 1853, ch. 122, §1.]
*§17. [Sec. 12.] The legislature may at any time
alter or repeal this act. repeal.
*§18. The fifth section of the act entitled " An act Amend.
v ment.
authorizing the incorporation of rural cemetery asso
ciations," passed April twenty-seventh, one thousand
eight hundred and forty-seven, is hereby amended by
striking out the word "four," and insert "two," in
the eleventh line of said section, so that hereafter any
person owning two hundred square feet of land in any
cemetery association shall be entitled to vote for the
election of the trustees of said association. [1851, ch.
358, §1.]
*§19. Nothing contained in this act shall affect any
rural cemetery association which shall have been or
ganized under the act hereby amended before this act
shall take effect. [Same ch., §2.]

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