Delaware General Assembly


CHAPTER 367

CEMETERIES

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE DISINTERRING AND RE-INTERRING OF BODIES IN A CEMETERY LOCATED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF WEST PINE STREET IN GEORGETOWN, DELAWARE, BELONGING TO WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH IN GEORGETOWN, AND PROVIDING FOR THE SALE OF THE LAND FROM WHICH BODIES ARE REMOVED.

WHEREAS, in the Town of Georgetown in Sussex County, Delaware, there is a small and very old cemetery on the property of and belonging to Wesley Methodist Church of said Town; and

WHEREAS, the said cemetery has not been used for burial purposes for a great many years; and

WHEREAS, the said cemetery is located apart from other cemeteries in the Town of Georgetown and it is not under perpetual care and the church authorities find it difficult to maintain the said cemetery in a proper manner; and

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Trustees of the said church that the bodies in the old cemetery hereinafter described should be removed and reinterred in an organized cemetery controlled by a cemetery corporation and under perpetual care so that proper attention can be given to the lots where reinterments are made; and

WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Trustees of Wesley Methodist Church that, with the consent of relatives of the persons buried in the said cemetery, if any such can be located to sell the plot of land from which the bodies are proposed to be removed, NOW, THEREFORE,

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met (two-thirds of all the Members elected to each House concurring therein):

Section 1. That the Trustees of Wesley Methodist Church of Georgetown, Sussex County, Delaware, be and they are hereby authorized and fully empowered to carefully and properly disinter and remove all of the bodies from the said cemetery located on the north side of West Pine Street in the Town of Georgetown, Delaware and to carefully and properly reinter the said bodies in another cemetery in the Town of Georgetown that is under the control of an organized cemetery company where perpetual care is proposed to be arranged and where the plot of ground where the bodies are proposed to be reinterred can be properly kept.

Section 2. That after the removal of the bodies from the cemetery herein described, the authorities of Wesley Methodist Church are authorized and empowered to sell the plot of ground where the bodies in question are now interred and to apply the proceeds derived from said sale toward the expenses of the removal of the bodies as aforesaid and their reinterment in another cemetery in the Town of Georgetown, Delaware.

Section 3. That, before removing any of the said bodies from the said cemetery as aforesaid, the said Trustees shall first make reasonable effort to get the consent in writing of the relatives of the said deceased persons whose bodies are therein buried and which bodies they propose to remove; and if said Trustees are unable to find such relatives or any of them, they shall advertise in at least one weekly newspaper in Sussex County, for three successive weeks, that they propose removing said bodies in accordance with this Act; and if, after such advertising, or as a result of such advertising, the said Trustees are not able to find said relatives or any of them, and no objection is made by any known relative, then and in such event, the said Trustees shall be presumed to have secured the consent of any and all of such relatives as provided for in this Act.

Section 4. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with the provisions of this Act be and the same are hereby repealed to the extent and only to the extent of such inconsistency.

Approved June 30, 1949.