Division of lands, how made.

by inheritance, any lands, or apportionment of lands, in the District of Marshpee, under and by force of an act entitled "An Act concerning the district of Marshpee," passed the third day of March, in the year eighteen hundred and fortytwo, or any act in relation to the partition and inheritance of lands in said district of Marshpee. And it shall be the duty of said commissioners, before determining and recording the list of proprietors, to give public notice, and to hold meetings, in such manner as shall enable the inhabitants of said plantation, and all persons claiming to be proprietors, to present their claims, and to be fully heard thereon. And, upon such list being so made out by the commissioners, the same shall be presented to the proprietors, in a meeting called for that purpose; at which meeting the commissioners shall be present, and hear such representations, and make such explanations, as may be desired, with reference to the claims of any person named in said list, or excluded therefrom; and thereafter, the commissioners shall carefully revise said list, and shall make it as accurate as possible, and the same shall be duly certified and recorded in a book of records, to be kept by the commissioner of Marshpee, and each proprietor may also record his allotment with the registry of deeds for the county of Barnstable. And in determining and passing upon the claims to proprietorship, if any case shall arise, not distinctly provided for in this act, which, in the unanimous opinion of the commissioners, shall so come within the spirit and meaning of this act as to constitute a manifest, equitable, and just claim to proprietorship, the same shall be submitted by the commissioners, to the proprietors, in a meeting duly called for that purpose, and if the commissioners shall decide that the claim is well founded, and ought to be allowed, and a majority of the adult proprietors, present in said meeting, shall, by vote, assent to the admission of such claim, the same shall be allowed. And to remove any doubt as to the lands of Cynthia Attaquin, wife of Solomon Attaquin, of Marshpee, the said Cynthia having been a proprietor of, and domiciled in said Herring Pond Plantation, before her marriage, and not having, nor being entitled to any land in Marshpee, it is provided, that the said Cynthia shall be entitled to a home.lot, and also, to her share, as a proprietor, in the rest of the lands to be divided, she releasing, with her husband, all claim to any other land or lands in said Herring Pond Plantation, which she now holds or claims.

SECTION 4. After so ascertaining, and making up the list of proprietors as aforesaid, the commissioners shall apportion, divide, allot, and set off the lands, described in the first section of this act, in the following manner: To every family domiciled in, and occupying any house or tenement in said

plantation, and who were so domiciled on the first day of
January, eighteen hundred and fifty, there shall be set off
and allotted, as a home lot, fifteen acres of land: provided, Proviso.
that no family on said plantation shall receive such allot-
ment, unless one, at least, in said family shall be a proprietor.
And, in allotting said fifteen acres, as a home lot, the title
thereto shall be vested in all the members of said family who
are proprietors, as tenants in common, or in the member of
said family who is a proprietor, if there be but one proprietor
in a family provided, however, that no such allotment, nor Proviso.
any provision of this act, shall affect or change the rights of
property and ownership, which any proprietor now has in or
to any dwelling-house, tenement, or building now erected,
and being situated on any land in said plantation. In deter-
mining what constitutes a family, within the meaning of this
act, the commissioners shall be governed by the usages and
customs of said plantation, and the exercise of their sound
discretion, whether the person or persons, claiming to be a
family, shall occupy one or more tenements, or whether
there shall be more than one family in the same tenement.
And if, in any case, more than one family shall live in one
house, then each family shall be entitled to an allotment of
fifteen acres. The remaining lands to be apportioned by
this act, after setting off of said home lots, shall be appor-
tioned, divided, allotted, and set off, in a just manner, by
said commissioners, to each and every one of the proprietors
of said Herring Pond Plantation, who shall be of the age of
eighteen years, or upwards, on the last day of December,
eighteen hundred and fifty, in equal proportions to each
proprietor, including all who have received, in addition
thereto, their home lot; and in making such division, the
commissioners shall not be restricted to the quantity of land
apportioned to each, but may take the value, convenience,
and quality into their estimate, to produce, as near as may
be, an equitable distribution.

tion.

SECTION 5. When such partition shall have been made Record of partias aforesaid, the commissioners shall cause the same to be recorded by metes and bounds, in the proprietors' book of records, to be kept as before provided, and each proprietor shall be furnished with a copy of the record of his allotment.

SECTION 6. All the remaining lands in said plantation, not common lands. divided and allotted by force of this act, shall be, and remain. the common land of said plantation, and shall be so held and reserved exclusively for the use of the said plantation, the proceeds to be appropriated solely to the necessary and legal expenses of said plantation; and the commissioner of the district of Marshpee shall have the care and manage

Incidents and limitations

estates.

of

Power and duty of court of probate.

Reserved right

ment of the said common land, in the same manner as is now provided by law.

SECTION 7. The lands set off in severalty to the proprietors, and all other lands held or acquired by them, shall have all the incidents of estates in fee, except the right of transfer, conveyance, or devise, to other than a proprietor, and excepting further, that the said lands shall not be liable to be taken in execution, and no devise or conveyance, shall defeat the inheritance of any children of the devisor or grantor, who were within the age of eighteen years, on the aforesaid last day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty; nor shall any proprietor, who shall receive an allotment under this act, be entitled to receive or take any more land, as heir to a deceased proprietor, nor shall he inherit any portion of the land of his father or mother, living at the time he received such allotment: provided, there is any surviving brother or sister of such proprietor, who was under the age of eighteen years, at the time such proprietor received his allotment under this act, but such surviving child or children shall take, to the exclusion of any brother or sister, who shall have received an allotment, under this act; and no land, belonging to a married female proprietor, or which she may hereafter acquire or inherit, in her own right, shall, without her consent, be conveyed or leased, or the wood sold therefrom; and all contracts therefor, by her husband in which she does not join, shall be void: provided, also, that upon the death of any proprietor leaving no heirs, all his interest in the lands of the plantation shall escheat to the proprietary.

SECTION 8. The court of probate for the county of Barnstable, shall have jurisdiction in all probate matters, in said plantation, concerning the proprietors thereof, and in the appointment of guardians to minors, insane persons, and spendthrifts, in the same manner as is provided by law for the citizens of this Commonwealth in like cases.

SECTION 9. The legislature may at any time hereafter of legislature. alter, amend, or repeal this act at their pleasure, except so far as rights of property in severalty may have been acquired, under its provisions.

Chap. 169

Corporators.

In Dennis.

SECTION 10. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

April 6, 1850.

AN ACT to incorporate the Mariners' Bank, in Dennis.
Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

SECTION 1. John Baker, Watson Baker, Sylvanus Sears, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the President, Directors and Company of the Mariners' Bank, to be established in the town of

Dennis, in the county of Barnstable, and so continue until the first day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and shall be entitled to all the Powers, duties, powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, liabili- and liabilities. ties, and restrictions, set forth in the public statutes of this Commonwealth relative to banks and banking.

SECTION 2. The capital stock of said bank shall consist of capital stock. one hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, to be paid in such instalments

and at such times as the stockholders may direct: provided, Proviso. the whole be paid in before the first day of May, in the year

one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.

SECTION 3. The stock of said bank shall be transferable Transfer of stock. only at its banking-house and on its books.

SECTION 4. Said corporation shall be subject to all the subject to future liabilities, requirements, and restrictions, contained in such legislation. acts as may hereafter be passed by the general court in relation to banks and banking.

[1851, 64.]

April 8, 1850.

[1845, 8; 1846, 265; 1847, 184; 1848, 137; 1849, 247.] AN ACT concerning the Connecticut River Railroad Company. Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

Chap. 170

Issue of 4,600 ferred stock.

shares as pre

SECTION 1. The Connecticut River Railroad Company are hereby authorized to issue any of the remaining shares of capital stock now authorized by law to be issued by said company, not exceeding forty-six hundred in number, as a preferred stock, entitled to such dividends as the said company may determine, not exceeding eight per cent. per annum, said dividends to be paid out of the first net earnings of the said company: provided, however, that the said Proviso. shares of stock shall not be sold by the said company for less than their par value.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect from and after its passage.

April 8, 1850.

Chap. 171

[1850, 238; 1852, 315; 1856, 180; 1857, 239; 1859, 242.] AN ACT to incorporate the Bank of North America.

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

In Boston.

SECTION 1. Newell Sturtevant, David Snow, Charles Corporators. Rice, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the President, Directors and Company of the Bank of North America, to be located in the city of Boston, and shall so continue until the first day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventytwo, and shall be entitled to all the powers and privileges, Powers, duties, and subject to all the duties, liabilities, and restrictions, set and liabilities. forth in the public statutes of this Commonwealth relative

to banks and banking.

Capital stock.

Proviso.

Transfer of stock.

Subject to future legislation.

Chap. 172

Corporators.

SECTION 2. The capital stock of said corporation shall consist of five hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, to be paid in such instalments and at such times as the stockholders may direct: provided, the whole be paid in before the first day of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.

SECTION 3. The stock of said bank shall be transferable only at its banking-house and on its books.

SECTION 4. Said corporation shall be subject to all the liabilities, requirements, and restrictions, contained in such acts as may hereafter be passed by the general court in relation to banks and banking.

[1853, 227.]

April 8, 1850.

AN ACT to incorporate the Groveland Linen Company.
Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

SECTION 1. Alvan White, Abel Page, Alvan H. Perry, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporaFlax and Hemp. tion, by the name of the Groveland Linen Company, for the purpose of manufacturing articles from flax and hemp, in the town of Groveland, in the county of Essex, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities, set forth in the thirty-eighth and fortyfourth chapters of the Revised Statutes.

Powers and duties.

Real and personal estate.

Proviso

Chap. 173

Corporators.

SECTION 2. Said corporation may hold real and personal estate, necessary and convenient for the purpose aforesaid, not exceeding in amount one hundred thousand dollars. SECTION 3. No shares in the capital stock of said corporation shall be issued for a less sum or amount, to be actually paid in on each, than the par value of the shares which shall be first issued. April 8, 1850. ·

AN ACT to incorporate the Abington Bank.

Be it enacted, &c., as follows:

SECTION 1. Asaph Dunbar, Samuel Norton, Joshua Whitmarsh, their associates and successors, are hereby made a corporation, by the name of the President, Directors and Company of the Abington Bank, to be located in the town of Abington, and shall so continue until the first day of October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, and shall be entitled to all the powers and Powers, duties, privileges, and be subject to all the duties, liabilities, and restrictions, set forth in the public statutes of this Commonwealth relative to banks and banking.

and liabilities.

Capital stock.

Proviso.

SECTION 2. The capital stock of said bank shall consist of one hundred thousand dollars, to be divided into shares of one hundred dollars each, to be paid in such instalments and at such times as the stockholders may direct: provided,