PARK AND CEMETERY 
267 
with weeds and grass, unfenced, neglected 
and desolate. Monuments inclined at all 
angles, were broken and defaced and had 
been placed without attention to alignment 
or foundations. 
At request of Rev. J. M. Kitter, the pastor 
in charge, Clark & Pike, landscape archi- 
tects of Willoughby, Ohio., mapped the cem- 
etery as it then stood. They took the exact 
location of each grave and tombstone, pre- 
pared a topographical map of the entire 
property, together with designs and data 
for removing all tombstones, grading and 
draining the cemetery, and replacing the 
stones in their correct locations upon good, 
■concrete bases ; located new walks and 
driveways and prepared a planting scheme 
for the beautification of the property. 
Since that time Rev. Kitter, with the as- 
sistance of twenty or more of his parish- 
ioners, has completed all improvements, 
with the e.xception of shrubberies which 
will go in next spring. 
The cemetery is now graded, drained, all 
headstones and monuments are on concrete 
bases and are lined up and in their correct 
In order to avoid the confusion and un- 
■certainty as to the heirship and ownership 
of the cemetery lot, many cemeteries make 
it a practice to definitely summarize the law 
of the state on this important matter and 
put it before lot holders in printed form. 
The following statements on the subject 
of rights of ownership in New York are 
from the printed matter of two leading 
New York cemeteries. 
Woodlawn Cemetery, New York, says: 
“To enable lot owners and heirs to un- 
derstand their rights of ownership, the law 
on the subject, which has from time to 
time been amended, is here stated in sub- 
stance : 
“I. Before an interment the owner may, 
with the consent of the corporation, sell or 
dispose of the use of the lot or undivided 
interest in it. After an interment the lot 
is forever inalienable except that if all bod- 
ies interred in the lot are lawfully removed 
therefrom, a sale may be made with the 
consent of the cemetery corporation. The 
provision of the statutes making lots in- 
alienable, permits one or more heirs-at-law 
of the owner or one or more joint owners 
to release to all other such heirs or joint 
owners, his, her or their interest in the 
same on such conditions as shall be speci- 
fied in the release, a copy of which must 
be filed in the office of the cemetery. 
“11. Upon the death of the owner of a 
lot the same will descend to his heirs-at- 
law. In the case, however, of husband and 
wife, where the deed is taken jointly in the 
name of both, they take as tenants by the 
entirety, and upon the death of either the 
survivor will take the whole lot. The 
'heirs-at-law' within the meaning .jf the 
statute are : 
places, the broken ones repaired, a fine 
lawn developed, and a concrete walk laid 
from the street through the cemetery to a 
point at which it is intended to erect a 
marble group. A neat iron hitch-rail has 
been provided for the hitching of horses, 
the posts being set in concrete. Graves are 
to be kept level with the lawn, and the 
church will plant trees, shrubbery and flow- 
ers next spring, providing shade and beauty. 
When the matter was first undertaken 
the people of the community were for the 
most part opposed to the improvement and 
it is due to the untiring efforts of Rev. Kit- 
ter that there was sufficient change of opin- 
ion to carry out the work. The work was 
started during the summer and completed 
in September. About twenty men gave 
their services under the guidance of Rev. 
Kitter and now all feel amply repaid for 
their efforts and are an.xious to have the 
planting scheme carried into effect. 
Mainly through the efforts of Rev. Kit- 
ter, a macadamized road has been con- 
structed past the church property connecting 
"First: The children of the decedent and 
the descendants of any of them who have 
died. And 
“Second: If there are no children or 
descendants of a child ; then the other rela- 
tives of the decedent in the order pre- 
scribed by law in respect to descent of real 
property. The heirs-at-law will own the 
lot in undivided shares, each taking an 
equal interest in it according to the degree 
of relationship to the decedent. 
“HI. Any one purchasing a lot may 
designate the persons or class of persons 
who shall use the same after his death. 
“IV. The cemetery is authorized to take 
and hold any lot which an owner may con- 
vey or devise to it, in which conveyance or 
devise the owner may restrict interment to 
such person or persons or such class of per- 
sons as shall be prescribed in the convey- 
ance or devise. 
“V. The widow of an owner shall have 
the right of interment in the lot, and she 
may at any time release her right in such 
lot, but no conveyance or devise by any 
other person shall deprive her of such right. 
"VI. After the death of a lot owner, an 
affidavit of one of the heirs, showing the 
facts relating to the heirship, must be filed 
in the office of the cemetery. Blank forms 
of such affidavits can be obtained and sworn 
to at either office.” 
Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, N. Y.. 
makes the following announcement “To 
families of deceased lot owners” : 
“In order to prevent any misunderstand- 
ing as to the pro.per method of securing 
the use of lots after the death of the own- 
ers, the following information is submitted: 
“Orders for the use of lots can be re- 
with the main market road of the county. 
Sidewalks and retaining wall of concrete 
have been built at the front and it is pro- 
posed to place a serviceable fence around 
the entire property. 
From a most dilapidated appearance, the 
property has emerged into an attractive, 
neat and trim church and cemetery prop- 
erty, a credit to the entire community, their 
pride in which is reflected in their new 
interest in improving the appearance of 
their own residence grounds. The cost in 
money was small, although the cost in 
labor, if paid in money, would have been 
considerable. Any community can accom- 
plish as much at any time by getting to- 
gether in the proper spirit. It is needless 
to say that there are thousands of neg- 
lected cemeteries in the land which are a 
disgrace to the localities where situated, 
which can as readily be made decently re- 
spectable and even beautiful as has this 
one at Valley City, with th6 development 
of a little of that “get together spirit'' so 
frequently absent in rural communities. 
Cemetery Lots 
ceived only from the owners, and no per- 
sons can be recognized as lot owners unless 
their names appear as such upon the rec- 
ords of the cemetery. 
“Upon the death of the owner, leaving no 
will, or leaving a will wdiich does not dis- 
pose of the lot, an affidavit of one of the 
heirs, embracing the facts of the case re- 
lating to heirship, must be filed in this 
office. 
“In all cases where the owner has left a 
will which disposes of the lot, the will, or- 
a copy of the same, certified by the proper 
Surrogate’s Court, must be produced, but 
w’ill he returned after examination. 
“The charge for registering the change 
of ownership on the records of the ceme- 
tery is one dollar. Affidavits will be pre- 
pared, if desired, without additional charge. 
“The information usually required to 
prepare the affidavit w'here the owner has 
died intestate, or where the lot is not affect- 
ed by the will, will be supplied by furnish- 
ing : 
“First — The name of the deceased owner, 
and the date of death, and whether leaving 
a widow or a husband. 
“Second — The names of the children, and 
if married, the names of both husband and 
wife; if any have deceased, the names of 
their children. 
“Third — If there be no children living, 
nor descendants of deceased children, state 
the names of the father and mother, and 
whether living or not. 
“Fourth — If there be no children living, 
nor descendants of deceased children, nor 
father or mother living, give the names of 
the brothers and sisters of the deceased 
owner, and the names of the descendants 
of any deceased brother or sister.” 
Ownership and Heirship of 
