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Home My WebLink About1913-05-11-BOS-ltr.pdf Seinagier errs r,a/inotrrd cf it <, iftte,t., e,n33 54044 May 31st. ,1913. Mr. George H. Childs, Chairman of Board of Selectmen, Lexington, Massachusetts. W dear Sir,-- With reference td) the title of the Belfry Hill lot, which the town proposes to buy from William W. Ferguson, I would report that there are some features regarding it with which I am not fully satisfied, and which I wish to call to your attention. I began the examination with the conveyance of Franklin M. Harring— toh et als to the Lexington NAnument Associ.ation,October 3rd, 1863, which covered the Belfry Hill lot and a lot of about one quarter of an acre of land on Vain Street, now Massachusetts Avenue, then occu— pied by Mrs. Clarissa Harrington, which I understand to be the brick house now occupied by the Harrington sisters. I assumed the title good in the grantors in this deed to the Lexington Nenument Association, except as therein stated: namel ,— that it was subject to the life interest of Mrs. Clarissa Harrington, who I understand died some years ago. The Lexington Monument Association was incorporated in 1850 for the purpose, as stated in its act of incorporation, "of erecting a suitable monument on the battle ground in the Town of Lexington. . . . said corporation may receive and hold,by gift, grant or devise, real and personal estate not exceeding in value the sum of $20,000. , pro— vided the same be applied exclusively to the erection of a monument, or the purchasing, fencing and ornamenting of the grounds around the same." 72— Mr, George H. Childs, 2. In December of the same year ( lg63) the Lexington Monument Association conveyed the premises covered by the foregoing deed to Isaac H. Frothingham. This deed contains the following re— t cital , namely,— "said parcels are conveyed to the said Frothing • — ham in trust, to manage and take care of the same for the use and • benefit of the said Lexington Monument Association, and suffer said Association at any time within twelve years from the date hereof to enter upon said land D40 erect thereon a monument to commeniprate the opening scene of the Revolutionary War, commonly called the Battle of Lexington, and if said Association within said twelve years shall commence to build said monument and expend thereon not less than ten thousand dollars, the legal estate herein shall vest in said Associatiox and if at the expiration of twelve years, said Association shall not have commenced to build said monument and expend thereon said sum of ten thousand dollars, said Frothingham shall convey said land to the persons who are the heirs—at—law of William H. Cary, of Brooklyn, New York, or to their heirs or assigns, and thereupon all the interest of the said Association shall cease. " This deed is not accompanied by any vote of the Lexington Monument Association authorizing this conveyance as there should have been, and I have no knowledge whether the Association has any records bearing upon the matter. Furthermore, the purpose of the corporation,as above stated, was the erection of a suitable monument "on the battle ground, " and Belfry Hill was not the battle ground, and the question may be rais— ed, whether the Association had Ftny authority to take title to the Belfry Hill property? ?33r- Mr. George H. Childs,3. Furthermore , the deed to Frothingham purports to establish a trust namely,— that unless within tvelvo years the Association erects a monument and expends ten thousand dollars all its interest in the real estate covered by the deed would cease and prothingham was to convey the real estate to the heirs—at—law of the said William H. Cary. It appears from the records that seven years later:namely,— on May 17th, 1£570, the said Frothingham as trustee conveyed to Clarissa H. Rindge the same premises which were conveyed to him by the said Lexington Monument Association, excepting therefrom a small triangular piece of land of 170 feet base and 20 feet altitude ad— joining the land of Luke W. Wright, which is now the premises occu— pied by Mr,. George H. Streeter. This conveyance was joined in by way of assent by George S. Cary, John Hastings and his wife Maria M. Hastings, stating that they were "some of the heirs—at—law"01 William H. Cary. Two questions are naturally raised by this deed. First; what right had Frothingham to convey the premises during the twelve years, and, second, what title could he give if the conveyance was assented to by only a portion of the heirs of William H. Cary ( when the only authority he had, as appears from his trust, as above stat— ed, was, after the expiration of twelve years, to convey the premis— es to the heirs of William H. Cary, or their assigns )? It next appears that on March 30, 127g, Frothingham as owner and trustee conveyed to the said Clarissa H. Rindge said snail triangular lot of land, which was excapted in former conveyance to her. Just where this triangular lot is situated I have not as yet been able to determine, although it seems to have joined in the rear the Wright (now Streeter premises) . this conveyance was assented to -4— Mr. Sorge H. Childs. by Nathaniel H. Cary and his wife, Samuel E. Howard executor .of the estate of George S. Cary, Isaac H. Cary and wife, and Maria M. Hastings, widow, and heirs—at—law of William H. Cary, deceased. This assent, however, related only to the small triahgular parcel, There next appears on the record under the date of April ig, 1g7g, a deed from Nathaniel H. Cary and Isaac H. Cary, described • as two of the heirs—at—law of William H. Cary, of Brooklyn, New Yotk, to the said Clarissa H. Rindge, covering the same premises described in the deed of Frothingham, trustee, to her, of May 17, 1870, above referred to. Clarissa H. Rindge died in lgg5, and by will gave the rest and residue of her estate to her son, Frederick H. Rindge. At the time of her death, she was a widow. The said Frederick H. Rindge died in 1905, leaving three minor children,. Samuel K. , Frederick H. and Rhoda A. By his will, he gave two thirds of his estate to his children equally and one third to his wife, and subsequently his wife, (two of his children having then become of age) and the guardian of his remaining child, con— veyed the premises to Florence E. Hayes in 1912, and Ads. Hayes shortly thereafter conveyed the premises to William W. Ferguson. The foregoing records raise the following questions namely,- 1 . Did the Lexington Monument Association under its charter to erect a monument on the battle ground have authority to purchase land and erect a monument on Belfry Hill? Apparently, however, it erected no monument at all. 2. Was the conveyance to Frothingham,without a vote of the corporati.on,and under the teens of its charter, valid, particularly in view of the fact that the atranpted declaration of trust provided that the Association should have twelve years within which to erect 11 to W. George H. Childs. the monument? 3. Assuming that the authority of the corporation was suffi— cient upon the points above mentioned, it would appear from the re— cords that he made conveyance to Clarissa H. Rindge,rather than to the heirs of William H. Gary as he was expressly directed to do by the terms of the trust above mentioned. 4. There is nothing on the records to show that those who assented to or made conveyance of their interests as heirs of William H . Cary, as above mentioned, were all of his heirs. If they were not, there are still outstanding interests, which might not be cut off by the lapse of time . Perhaps these points can all be cleared up, or at least enough of them, so that your board will feel justified, in consequence of the lapse of time, to take title. I will he glad to confer with you regarding them, and will also send a copy of this letter to Ivlt^. Ferguson. Very truly yours a - � t