Pierce v. Proprietors of Swan Point Cemetery
Supreme Court of Rhode Island
Bill inequity, brought by William Gr. Pierce and Almira E. Pierce, his wife, the latter being the only child and heir at law of Wbiting Metcalf, deceased, against tbe “ Proprietors of Swan Point Cemetery,” a corporation duly created under the laws of Ehode Island, and against Almira T. Metcalf, widow of said Wbiting Metcalf.
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Bill inequity, brought by William Gr. Pierce and Almira E. Pierce, his wife, the latter being the only child and heir at law of Wbiting Metcalf, deceased, against tbe “ Proprietors of Swan Point Cemetery,” a corporation duly created under the laws of Ehode Island, and against Almira T. Metcalf, widow of said Wbiting Metcalf. Tbe bill alleged, in substance, tbat Wbiting Metcalf died on the 4th day of May, 1856, leaving bis daughter, said complainant, Almira F. Pierce, bis sole heir at law, and the said Almira T. Metcalf, his widow; that tbe said Wbiting Metcalf, during his lifetime, bad…
1Opinion of the CourtPotter, J.
In this' case one of the respondents, Mrs. Met-calf, has removed the body of her husband from its former place of burial in Swan Point Cemetery, and claims that she had the right to do so, being, as his widow, entitled to the charge of it. The claim is resisted by his only child, the complainant.
It seems strange that controversies of this sort have not arisen often before. In Europe burials were matters of ecclesiastical cognizance, and the practice of burial in churches and churchyards common. In many parts of New England the parish system prevailed, and every family was considered to have a…
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