Chap. 7.—An ACT to incorporate the Virginia Masonic Widows’ and
rphans’ Home.

Approved December 19, 1874.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That John F.
Regnault, James D. Crump, I. 8. Tower, H. D. Danforth, H.
W. Bransford, N. R. Savage, Charles Campbell, F. D. Cun-
ningham, W. C. Carrington. A. R. Courtney, George R. Pace,
James H. Binford, J. B. Dupuy, C. F. Danforth, Peterfield
Trent, J. H. Hatcher, Alfred S. Lee, William E. Tanner,
Abram Gunst, Edward McCarthy, and H. V. Gray, and their
associates and successors, be and are hereby created a body
corporate and politic, with perpetual succession, by the name
and style of The Virginia Masonic Widows’ and Orphans’
Home, and by that name may sue and be sued, plead and be
impleaded, contract and be contracted with, may make, have
and use a common seal, and alter, break or renew the same at
pleasure; shall have.the right to take and hold so much land
in the city of Richmond or county of Henrico as may be de-
sirable for the purposes of the association, not exceeding five
acres in the city of Richmond and one hundred acres in the
county of Henrico, and also to take and hold any other land
or propeity it may receive by gift, bequest or devise; shall
have the power to dispose of and convey the same at plea-
sure; and shall be invested with such other rights and privi-
leges as are granted such corporations and associations under
the general Jaws of the state of Virginia.

2. The object of the said institution shall be to provide
and sustain, in or near the city of Richmond, a home for des_
titute widows and orphans of deceased master masons of the
state of Virginia.

3. The membership of said institution shall consist of an-
nual, life and honorary-‘members, and of representatives from
eontributing masonic associations. .

4. The affairs of the institution shall be managed by a
president, who shall be the grand master of masons in Vir-
ginia for the time being, and a board of directors consisting
of fifteen members, all of whom shall be freemasons, the
members of which said board of directors shall be-elected by
the association, and shall hold office for a term of three
years, oy until their successors are duly elected and qualified:
provided, that at the first election of directors, five shall be
chosen for one year, and shall be denominated members of
tho first class; five for two years, who shall be denominated
members of the second class; and five for three years, who
shall be denominated members of the third class. -Annually
after said first election, there shall be elected by the associa-
tion five directors, to fill the places of those whose terms ex-
pire. In the event of a failure, at the first election held

ereunder, to designate for what term said directors were
respectively elected, then the class of each of said directors
shall be determined by lot, at the first meeting of the board
after the election. Nothing herein contained shall be so
construed as to render retiring members of the board ineli-
gible to re-election. Said board shall provide for the ap-.
pointment of such officers and agents as they may deem
necessary for the proper management of the affairs of the
association, adopt such by-laws and regulations as they may
deem necesssary for the government of the association, fill
all vacancies in their own body, and of the officerg.and agents
that may arise by death, resignation or otherwise; and five
shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.

5. The first corporate meeting shall be called within thirty
days from the passage of this act, at which a majority of the
members shall be necessary to constitute a quorum. Subse-
quent meetings may be held at such times, in such manner,
under such regulations, and on such notice as the association
or the directory may from time to time direct. |

6. In view of the beneficent and charitable objects to be
accomplished by said institution, its property, whether real,
personal or mixed, shall be at all times exempt from city,
county and state taxes.

7. A misnomer of the corporation in any deed, gift or de-
vise, or in any instrument or contract, shall not vitiate the
same, if the corporation shall be sufficiently described therein
to ascertain the intention of the parties.

8. The officers or directors of said home shall have power
to receive into its custody and retain under its exclusive
control any of the orphans of deceased masons who may be
recommended by the masonic lodges of Virginia (or such
committees as the lodges may entrust with the duty of re-
commending) to the officers of the said widows’ and orphans’
home, as may be suitable objects of its care and protection ;
also, such as may be placed under its care by the mother
(the father being dead) or by the guardian ; and the children
who may be received by the said association upon any of the
grounds aforesaid, shall, from the time they are received, until
they attain the age of twenty-one years, remain under its
charge and subject to its exclusive control. |

’ 9. Said corporation, for the purposes of protection of the
person of any child committed to its care, is hereby invested
with all the rights of a parent or natural guardian.

10. The directory of said home shall have the right to
apprentice or put to service for a term of one or‘more years
any of the orphan inmates of the home, upon such terms
and conditions (not inconsistent with the laws of the com-
monwealth) as in their judgment the welfare of the inmates
may require; and should the party to whom such apprentice
may be bound, fail to comply with the terms of the inden-
ture, the board of directors may cancel said indenture and
receive said apprentice again into the home. ©

11. This act shall be in force from its passage, and shall
be aubject to amendment, alteration or repeal at the pleasure
of the general assembly.