receive lands, tenements, and hereditaments, goods and chattels, to an amount not exceeding fifty thousand dollars; and the same to grant, demise, lease, use, and manage for the good of said society; and also to have power to transmit the same to their successors in office, subject in all respects to the orders, control, government and direction of the board of directors of said society, according to the provisions of the constitution thereof; and generally to do all necessary business respecting said funds, and for the benefit of the same, as from time to time it shall be deemed by them to be expedient.

In case of the death of any one or more of said trustees, or in case of the vacancy of the office of any one or more of said trustees, that the survivor or survivors, shall have full power to manage said funds until the convention of said Protestant Episcopal Church, which shall be next after said vacancy shall happen; and at said convention said vacancy shall be supplied by a new choice made by said convention; and in all cases said convention shall have the sole power of appointing said trustees.

Always provided, that this act of incorporation, shall be liable to be revoked or modified by the General Assembly.

TITLE x.

CHURCHES.

RESOLVE INCORPORATING THE General convention of bapTIST CHURCHES

IN THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT AND VICINITY,

PASSED, MAY 1824.

Resolved by this Assembly, That Asa Wilcox, Jonathan Goodwin, Augustus Bolles, Joseph B. Gilbert, Robert Francis, Elisha Cushman, Roswell Burrows, Oliver Wilson, John Turney, Jeremiah Brown, Claudius L. Collins, Rufus Babcock, William H. Manning, and William Quiner, and their assocates, be, and they are hereby made and constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name of "The General Convention of the Baptist Churches in the State of Connecticut and vicinity," and by that name they and their successors shall and may have perpetual succession; shall be capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, in all suits of what nature soever; may have a common seal, and the same alter or change at pleasure; and may also have, purchase, receive, hold and convey away estate, real, personal, or mixed, the annual income of which shall not exceed three thousand dollars. Provided that said income, whatever may be the amount thereof, be annually expended and appropriated to the purposes designated in said petition.

Said convention may, from time to time, elect a president, and such other officers and agents as they may find necessary or convenient; may make by-laws respecting the number, qualifications and duties of their officers and members, prescribe the mode of election, and admission of members, the time, place and manner of holding their meetings; the number necessary to form a quorum, and all other by-laws and regulations, the said convention may deem necessary for the government and due regulation of its concerns, to promote and secure the essential objects of said convention as expressed in their constitution, not repugnant to the laws of this State or of the United States.

The first meeting of said convention shall be holden at the Baptist Meeting House in the city of Middletown, in the county of Middlesex, on the second Wednesday of June, A. D. 1824, at 9 o'clock in the forenoon.

This act of incorporation, or any part thereof, may be altered, amended, or repealed, at the pleasure of the General Assembly.

RESOLVE IN ALTERATION-PASSED, MAY 1829.

Resolved by this Assembly, That said corporation be hereafter called and known by the name of "The Connecticut Baptist Convention."

RESOLVE INCORPORATING THE DEACONS OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN BETHLEM-PASSED, MAY 1814.

Resolved by this Assembly, That the Deacons of said Church, and their successors in said office, be, and they are hereby made, constituted, and declared to be from time to time, and forever hereafter, a body corporate and politic, by the name of "The Deacons of the Church of Christ in Bethlem," for the purpose of enabling them to improve the funds of said Church, with power to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, before any court proper to hear and determine any controversy which they may have relative to said fund, with power to receive donations and increase said fund to the amount of eight thousand dollars, and also with power to do and perform all such acts and things as may be necessary for the purpose of well ordering and managing the aforesaid funds, and such other funds as may be legally vested in them according to the true intent of the donors of such funds.

RESOLVE INCORPORATING THE DEACONS OF THE BAPTIST CHURCH IN HARTFORD-PASSED, MAY 1811.

Resolved by this Assembly, That John Bolles, Samuel Beckwith, and such other persons as may be chosen the Deacons of the Baptist Church in Hartford, and their successors in said office forever duly elected by a major vote

of the members of said Church, in a regular meeting assembled for that purpose, be, and they are hereby constituted a body corporate, to be known and called by the name of "The Deacons of the Baptist Church in Hartford," and by that name they may sue and be sued, may make and use a common seal, and break or alter it at pleasure; and may purchase or hold all such money and other estate as may be given to or otherwise vested in them in trust for the use and benefit of said Church. Provided the interest, rents or profits thereof, shall not (exclusively of a meeting-house and a suitable parsonage house,) exceed the annual value of three thousand dollars, and the interest, rents, issues and profits of all such estate as is holden by the said corporation, shall by them be expended for the support of the gospel ministry in said church, and for building and repairing a suitable house of public worship for said church, and for no other purpose whatever.

RESOLVE AUTHORIZING THE CHURCH IN THE FIRST SOCIETY IN HARTFORD

TO PURCHASE LAND NORTH OF THEATRE STREET,
PASSED, MAY 1814.

Resolved by this Assembly, That the members of the Church of Christ in the First Ecclesiastical Society in the town of Hartford, be allowed to purchase and take by deed, the lot and building in said petition described, and to hold the same to them and their successors forever, subject to the superintendance of the present, and all successive ministers in said church and society.

RESOLVE INCORPORATING THE SECOND CHURCH OF CHRIST IN HARTFORD, PASSED, MAY 1816.

Resolved by this Assembly, That the said Church be, and the same is hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name of "The Second Church of Christ in Hartford," and said Church is hereby empowered to receive a conveyance of, and to hold said Chapel, and a lease of the ground on which it stands, and to hold any other property to an amount not exceeding two thousand dollars, which may be given or conveyed to said Church for religious purposes, and to use or otherwise dispose of the same, according to the intent for which the same may be given or conveyed to said Church.

RESOLVE INCORPORATING THE CHURCH IN THE FIRST SOCIETY IN

MIDDLETOWN-PASSED, MAY 1818.

Resolved by this Assembly, That the members of the Church aforesaid be, and they hereby are constituted and created a body politic and corporate, by the name of "The Church in the First Ecclesiastical Society in Middletown," and by that name that they and the future members of said Church shall and may have perpetual succession, and be capable of suing and being sued, impleading and being impleaded, in all suits of what nature soever, and may also purchase, receive, hold and convey any estate, real or personal: provided, that the same shall not exceed in value the sum of three thousand dollars.

RESOLVE INCORPORATING THE CHURCH OF CHRIST IN TRUMBULL,

: PASSED, MAY 1814.

Resolved by this Assembly, That said Church, and their successors, be, and they are hereby made, constituted and declared to be from time to time, and forever hereafter, an ecclesiastical body corporate and politic, by the name of "The Church of Christ in Trumbull," for the purpose of enabling said Church to improve the funds of said Church, with power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, before any court proper to hear and determine any controversy which they may have relative to said funds, with pow er to do and perform all such acts and things as may be necessary for the purpose of well ordering and managing the aforesaid funds, and such other funds as may be legally vested in them according to the true interest of the donors of such funds. And Judson Curtiss and Stephen Beardslee, are hereby authorized to warn the first meeting of said Church, by giving personal notice to all the members thereof, to be holden at the meeting house in said Trumbull, on the third Monday of June 1814, and said meeting are authorized to choose a moderator, clerk, treasurer, and committee to manage said funds, and to hold annual meetings at such time and place as they shall agree, for the purpose of appointing the officers of said incorporation, and managing the concerns thereof.

TITLE XI.

CITIES.

AN ACT INCORPORATING THE CITY OF BRIDGEPORT,

PASSED, MAY 1836.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened, That all freemen of this State, inhabitants of said Bridgeport, and dwelling and inhabiting within that part of the town of Bridgeport, bounded on the east, south, and west, by the boundary lines of said town, and on the north by a line running from the centre of the crossing of Fairfield line, with the old post road, along the centre of said road to the centre of its crossing with the Newtown turnpike; thence in a straight line to the centre of the Berkshire road in front of the dwelling house of Charles H. Wakelee; thence along the centre of said road and bridge, and a street running easterly therefrom to the centre of said street in front of the point burying ground; thence east to Stratford line, be, and the same are hereby ordained, constituted and declared to be from time to time, and forever hereafter one body corporate and politic by the name of "The Mayor, Alderman, Common Council and Freemen of the City of Bridgeport," and by that name, they and their successors forever shall have perpetual succession, and shall be persons in law capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, in all suits of what nature soever, and also to purchase, hold, and convey any estate, real or personal, and may have a common seal, and may change and alter the same at pleasure, and shall be freemen of said city.

Sec. 2. And for the better government of said city, be it further enacted, that there shall be a meeting of said city, holden annually on the first Monday of October, for the purpose of choosing the mayor, four aldermen, and not more than twenty common council men, a city clerk, a treasurer, and two sheriffs, which officers at such annual meeting chosen, shall hold their offices until others shall be chosen and qualified in their stead. And the mayor shall hold his office the same time unless removed by the General Assembly. Sec. 3. In all elections for the choice of officers of the city of Bridgeport, the mayor, aldermen, common council men, clerk, treasurer, and sheriffs of said city shall all, or so many of them as each freeman shall choose to vote for, be voted for at one ballot, by having their names with the office for which they are respectively intended, written or printed on one piece of paper. And those persons having the greatest number of votes for said offices, except for mayor, shall be declared to be elected, and the several aldermen, and the several common council men, shall be deemed to be chosen in the order in which their names shall stand, on the greatest number of ballots