WHEREAS ROBERT BOYD, and others, Mechanics and Tradesmen, of the city of New-York, associated as a Society, under the style of "The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New-York," for the lau­dable purposes of protecting and supporting such of their brethren as by sickness or accident may stand in need of assistance, and for the relief of the widows and orphans of those who may die, leaving little or no property for their sup­port, by their petition, presented to the Legisla­ture, have prayed to be incorporated, to enable them more beneficiently to carry into effect their charitable intentions: Therefore,

Be it enacted by the People of the State of New-York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That the said Robert Boyd, together with Nicholas N. Anthony, Thomas Allen, William Allen, Jacob Arden, Francis Arden, John Amory, Allard Anthony, Jacob I. Arden, Thomas Ash, Elbert Anderson, Jacob Arnold, John Burger, John Burger, jun. William Bryar, Michael Brooks, [Page 4] Abraham Bloodgood, Francis Bassett, David Barclay, Walter Sicker, Gardner Baker, James Brown, James Bramble, John P. Bessonett, John Brower, Thomas Brewen, James Byrne, John Brown, Peter Bertine, John Bingham, James D. Bissett, Thomas Brown, John Banks, Isaac Boyea, Caleb Boyle John Campbell, Jo­seph Cheesem [...]n, John Commendener, John Cole, Peter Cole, Richard Cunningham, Samuel Campbell, Francis Childs, William Corleys, William Carman, John Clitz, Seabury Cham­plain. John Croleus, Isaac Coulthard, James Culbertson, Richard Davis, John De la Mon­tayne, Walter Degraw, James Van Dyck, John Van Dyck, William I. Elsworth, John Elsworth, Jacob Fi [...]er, Gabriel Furman, Jacob Fee, William Forde, George Gosman, William W. Gilbert, John Goodeve, John Gilmore, Robert Gosman, Alexander Gibson, Caleb Haviland, Thomas Hazard, Robert Hodge, Peter Hulick, Hercules Heron, William Hopson, Daniel Hitchcock, Jabez Halsey, Jacob Hallet, Aaron Howel, Obadiah Helmes, Thomas Ivers, Jo­seph Jadwin, Seth Kneelen, George Lindsey, Robert Laburn, Thomas Le Foy, John Moore, John M'Comb, sen. Dennis M'Cready, John Mills, Malcom M'Ewen, George Meserve, William Meserve, William Mooney, White Matlack, William Mooney, Peter R. Mave­rick, David Mann, Andrew Morris, James Moore, John M'Baine, Robert M'Dowell, John Ming, Isaac Moore, Peter M'Cartey, John M'Comb, jun. Joseph Newton, Isaac Ni­coll, John Norman, Anthony Ogilvie, Andrew Otterson, Anthony Post, Abraham Polhemus, [Page 5] Jotham Post, John Perrian, Edward Patten, George Pake, George Peck, Alexander Peacock, William Philips, William Parker, Abraham Russell, James Robinson, Frederick Resler, Thomas Ross, John Ross, Abraham Riker, John I. Richie, Daniel Ruckel, John Stagg, Thomas Stevenson, John Sidell, Daniel Stans­bury, John Striker, Gerardus Smith, Frederick Stymets, Stephen Smith, Anthony Simmons, Jacob Sherred, George Seal, George Speth, Hen­ry Snyder, William Stymets, Peter Shackerly, Cornelius Sebring, Andrew Thompson, James Tylee, James Teller, Ahasuerus Turk, Thomas Timpson, Daniel Tooker, John Utt, John Wyl­ley, Henry Will, Edward Watkeys, Hugh Walsh, William Wright, George Warner, Hen­ry Wolf, James Warner, Nathaniel Woodward, Benjamin Williamson, John Wood, John Wright, Andrew Wright, and John Young, and all persons being Mechanics or Tradesmen and resident within the city and county of New-York, who hereafter shall be members of the said Society, shall be, and hereby are ordained, constituted and declared to be one body corpo­rate and politic; in fact and in name, by the name of "The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New-York," until the first Monday of April, one thousand, eight hun­dred and twelve; and that by that name, they and their successors, for the term aforesaid, shall and may have succession, and shall be persons in law, capable of suing and being sued, pleading and being impleaded, answering and being an­swered unto, defending and being defended in all courts and places whatsoever, in all manner of ac­tion [Page 6] and actions, suits, complaints, matters and cau­ses whatsoever; and that they and their succes­sors may have a common seal, and may change and alter the same at their pleasure. And, also, that they and their successors, by the name of "The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New-York," shall be in law capable of purchasing, holding and conveying any estate, real or personal, for the public use of the said Corporation.

Provided, That the lands, tenements and he­reditaments, which it shall be lawful for the said Corporation to hold, shall be only such as shall be requisite for the purpose of erecting a house or hall thereon, in which to meet and to transact the business of the said Corporation, or such as shall have been bona fide mortgaged to it by way of security, or conveyed to it in satisfaction of debts previously contracted in the course of its busi­ness, or purchased at sales on judgments which shall have been obtained for such debts.

And Provided also, That the amount of the real and personal estate, which the said Corpora­tion are hereby enabled to hold, shall not at any one time exceed the sum of fifty thousand dollars.

And be it further enacted, That the officers of the said Corporation, shall be a President, Vice­President, and a second Vice-President, a Trea­surer and Secretary, who shall hold their offi­ces for one year, and shall be citizens of this state, and be elected on the first Tuesday in Ja­nuary in every year, at such time of the day and [Page 7] at such place in the city of New-York, as shall be fixed and ascertained by the bye-laws of the said Corporation. That all elections of the said officers or any of them shall be by ballot, and such person who shall have at any election the greatest number of votes given at such election as President shall be the President; and in like manner the person who shall have the greatest number of votes as vice President shall be Vice-President; and in like manner the person who shall have the greatest number of votes for second Vice-President shall be second Vice­President; and in like manner the person who shall have the greatest number of votes as Trea­surer shall be Treasurer; and in like manner the person who shall have the greatest number of votes as Secretary shall be Secretary: And the said officers shall hold their respective offices for one year, and until others shall be chosen in their places: That if any vacancies shall hap­pen among the said officers by death, re­signation or removal, such vacancies shall be fil­led for the remainder of the year in which they may happen by a special election for that pur­pose to be held in the same manner as the annual elections are made, at such times and places as shall be provided for and determined by the bye­laws of the said Corporation: That Robert Boyd shall be the first President of the said Cor­poration, Anthony Post Vice-President thereof, Daniel Hitchcock second Vice-President thereof, Thomas Le Foy the Treasurer thereof and John Elsworth the Secretary thereof; who shall hold their offices respectively until the first. Tuesday in January next, and until others shall be chosen in their places.

[Page 8] And be it further enacted, That in case it should at any time happen that an election of officers should not be made on any day when pursuant to this act it ought to have been made, the said Corporation shall not for that cause be deemed to be dissolved, but it shall and may be lawful on any other day to hold and make an election of officers, in such manner as shall have been regulated by the laws and ordinances of the said Corporation.

And be it further enacted, That all elections and all meetings of the said Corporation, shall be made and held in a place certain to be fixed and determined by the bye-laws of the said Corpo­ration; and that at all such elections and meet­ings of the said Corporation, so to be held as aforesaid, twenty-five members thereof, inclu­ding the President, or in his absence the Vice­President, or in his absence the second Vice­President, shall be considered as a quorum of the said Corporation, and shall have full power to do and transact all the business thereof.

And be it further enacted, That the said Corpo­ration and their successors, shall have full pow­er to make and prescribe such bye laws, rules, ordinances and regulations as to them from time to time shall appear needful and proper, touching the management and disposition of their stock, property, estate and effects for the pur­poses aforesaid, and touching the meetings of the said Society, both special and ordinary, ex­cect the first Tuesday in January in every year, which is hereby declared to be the annual meet­ing [Page 9] of the Society, and touching the duties and conduct of the officers of the said Corporation, and touching the election of officers and all such other matters as appertain to the business, ends and purposes for which the said Corporation is by this act instituted, and for no other purposes whatsoever.

Provided, That such bye-laws, rules and re­gulations, be not repugnant to the constitution or the laws of the United States or of this state.

And be it further enacted, That all persons, be­ing Mechanics or Tradesmen, and resident with­in the city and county of New-York, desiring to become members of the said Corporation, shall be proposed by at least two members, one meeting previous to his or their election, which shall be by ballot, and determined by two-thirds of the members present at such election; that then he or they so elected, on paying into the hands of the Treasurer, such sum as the Corpo­ration, by their bye-laws shall direct: Provided the same shall not exceed the sum of ten Dollars, shall have his or their names inserted in the ge­neral register, and shall be entitled to all the privileges and benefits arising therefrom.

And to the end, that the funds of the said Corporation may never be diverted to any other than the charitable purposes for which the insti­tution has been expressly made and created,

[Page 10] Be it further enacted, That the said Corpora­tion shall, within twenty days after the passing of this act, exhibit to the Chancellor of this state a full and particular account of all the estate, real and personal, then vested in the said Corporation, attested by the oath of the Treasurer thereof, that the same is a true and perfect account: And shall also, in every year thereafter, during the continuance of this act, and between the first and last days of May in each year exhibit to the Chancellor for the time being, a like account together with a particular and detailed account of all monies by the said Corporation expended in the preceding year, specifying the several pur­poses to which it has been applied: And if it shall appear to the said Chancellor that any monies, except for the necessary repairs of any buildings which may belong to the said Corporation, or for the payment of the Treasurer or Secretary there­of, or for other charges expressly incidental to the management of the funds thereof, have been applied by the said Corporation to any use other than for the support of indigent members of the said Corporation, or the widows or children of any person having been a member thereof, he shall direct the Attorny-General of the state for the time being, ex officio, to file an information against the said Corporation in the Supreme Court of this State; and if upon the traverse, the said Corporation shall be found guilty, and judgment shall pass thereupon, that thenceforth the said Corporation shall cease and become null and void, and the estate, real and personal, which it may then possess, shall vest in the peo­ple of this state.

[Page] And be it further enacted, That this act be and hereby be declared to be a public act; and that the same is construed in all Courts and places, benignly and favorably for every beneficial purpose therein intended.

The preceding act is a true Copy of the ori­ginal, examined and compared therewith