CHAPTER 224 - CEMETERIES
AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE TRUSTEES OF GRACE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, INC., OF THE TOWN OF MILLSBORO, IN SUSSEX COUNTY, DELAWARE, TO DISINTER AND REMOVE FROM THE OLD AND LONG UNUSED CEMETERY OF SAID CHURCH THE BODIES NOW BURIED THEREIN AND REINTER SAID BODIES IN ANOTHER CEMETERY AT OR NEAR SAID TOWN.
WHEREAS, in the town of Millsboro, in Sussex County, Delaware, there is a very small and very old cemetery on the property of and belonging to Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, Inc., of said Town, and immediately adjoining the Church Building or House of Worship of said Church; and
WHEREAS, the said cemetery has long been neglected and
no bodies have been buried therein for more than a generation; and
WHEREAS, the said Church desires to use the said cemetery lot to enlarge or rebuild its Church Building or House of Worship, the said cemetery lot being very small and so closely situated as to prevent any enlargement or rebuilding of the Church Building or House of Worship without the use of said cemetery lot for such purpose; and
WHEREAS, there are not more than twenty-five or thirty graves in the said cemetery, all very old and in which the bodies have been buried for many years, and it is the intent and purpose of the Trustees of the said Church, with the consent and approval of the relatives of the deceased persons therein buried, to carefully disinter the bodies of the deceased persons buried in said cemetery and reinter said bodies in another and well cared for cemetery at or near the said Town;
Now therefore, be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That the Trustees of the said Church be and they are hereby authorized and fully empowered to carefully and properly disinter and remove all of the bodies from the said cemetery and carefully and properly reinter the said bodies in the cemetery of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, at or near said Town of Millsboro, first having secured the consent of the governing body of the said Order so to do.
Section 2. 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 3. 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 April 1, 1935.