Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the persons hereafter elected pursuant to the provisions of this act and their successors, be and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, to be styled the “President and Trustees of the Jerseyville Academy;” and by that name to remain in perpetual succession, with power to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, to acquire, hold and convey property real and personal; to have and use

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a common seal, and the same to break, alter and renew at pleasure; to make and alter from time to time such by-laws as they may deem necessary for the government and regulation of the said institution, its officers, servants and property; provided, Such by-laws are not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of this state or of the United States.

Sec. 2. The trustees of said institution shall consist of five persons, who together with the president, shall be elected by the stockholders annually on the first Monday of April in each year, and shall hold their offices until their successors are duly elected and qualified. The elections shall be held in the town of Jerseyville. All elections shall be by ballot, and may be made personally or by proxy, and conducted in such manner as may be directed by the by-laws of said institution.

Sec. 3. The directors of said institution shall have power to fill all vacancies which may occur from time to time in their body, either by death, resignation or otherwise.

Sec. 4. The said president and trustees shall hold the property of said institution solely for the purposes and advantages of said institution and of education, and the promotion of literature and science in said academy; and no particular religious faith shall ever be required of those who may become presidents and trustees, students, pupils, teachers, officers or servants of said institution.

Sec. 5. Said institution shall be permanently located in or within one quarter of a mile of the limits of the town of Jerseyville, in Greene county in this state; and the said president and trustees shall be competent in law and equity to make to themselves and successors in office in their said corporate name and capacity, any estate real, personal and mixed, by the gift, grant, bargain and sale, conveyance, will, devise or bequest, of any person or persons, body corporate and politic whatsoever; and the same estates whether real or personal, to grant, bargain and sell, convey, devise, let, place out on interest, or otherwise dispose of, for the sole and separate use and benefit of the said institution, in such manner as shall seem to them most beneficial (for) the interest of the said institution. The said president and trustees shall faithfully apply all funds by them collected and received, according to the best of their judgment, in erecting and completing a suitable building or buildings, supporting the necessary officers, instructors or servants, and in procuring books, maps, charts, globes, philosophical and other apparatus, necessary to the success of said academy; provided, nevertheless, That in case any donation, devise, bequest o[r]

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otherwise, shall be made to the said institution for a particular purpose or purposes, not incompatible with the designs of said institution, and the corporation shall accept the same, every such donation, devise or bequest, shall be applied in conformity with the express conditions prescribed by the donor or devisor.

Sec. 6. The trustees shall annually, and as soon as convenient after their election, elect a treasurer and secretary of the board of president and trustees of said incorporation, who shall each be stockholders therein, and who, when elected, and qualified, shall continue in office till their successors are duly elected and qualified. All processes against said corporation shall be by summons, and the service of the same shall be by leaving an attested copy thereof with the president, or at his usual place of residence, at least twenty days before the return thereof. The president and trustees, as well as the treasurer, shall before entering upon the duties of their offices, take an oath or affirmation to fulfil the duties of their offices respectively.

Sec. 7. The said president and trustees shall have power to employ and appoint a principal of said institution, and all such instructors and instructresses, and also such servants as may be necessary, and shall have power to displace any or either of them as they may deem to the interest of said institution, and the cause of education therein to require; and to fill vacancies that may happen by death or otherwise, among said officers or servants. The lands within the jurisdiction of this state, held in perpetuity by the said corporation, shall not exceed one quarter section of land at any one time, and if donations in lands be received at any time by said corporation, the same may be held in trust by the said president and trustees, and shall be sold within five years from the date of such donation, for the benefit of said institution, and, in failure thereof, the lands so given shall revert to the donor or grantor of the same or to their heirs.

Sec. 8. The president and trustees shall meet semi-annually or oftener if they shall deem proper at the academy, after the same shall be erected, and it shall be the duty of the secretary to attend all the meetings of the board, and keep and preserve a fair and correct record of their proceedings. A majority of the board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of all business relative to said institution.

Sec. 9. That on the payment of twenty dollars to the treasurer of the said institution, every such person shall be considered a stockholder, and shall be entitled to one vote for every share of said corporation in all elections;

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and it shall be lawful for each and every stockholder for the time being, of the said institution, his or her executors and administrators or assigns, to give, sell, devise and dispose of their respective rights or shares in the said Academy, and their respective assignees shall be stockholders of said institution, and shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges in said institution, as the original stockholders are entitled to by this act.

Sec. 10. That John W. Lott, George H. Collins, Benjamin L. Yates, Alexander H. Burritt, Joseph Gerrish, Richard Graham, Samuel L. McGill, and Edward M. Daley, of the county of Greene, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners to solicit and receive subscriptions of stock to said institution, and give receipts for the first instalment to be paid on subscriptions of stock to said Academy, and give a receipt for the same, to be paid on subscription; and when the sum of six hundred dollars shall be subscribed for, the said commissioners or any three of them, are hereby authorized to give public notice, by posting up advertisements at four public places in the county, of the time and place of holding an election for president and trustees of said institution, and that said election be held in the town of Jerseyville, at such place as the commissioners may direct, and that the said commissioners or any three of them, are hereby appointed judges of the first election, and are authorized and empowered to hold the same. The first election to be held on such day as the said commissioners may direct, but afterwards the annual elections shall be held on the first Monday in March, in each year thereafter, at the Academy as soon as erected. That each stockholder shall be required to pay to the commissioners two dollars on each share by him subscribed at the time of subscribing, and the residue at such time or times as the president and trustees shall direct; provided, that any stockholder neglecting or refusing to pay the balance due on any share or shares, shall forfeit to said institution all money previously paid on such share or shares so neglected.

Sec. 11. All sales of real or personal property or evidence of indebtedness, by said incorporation, must be signed by the president and attested by the secretary, and when thus signed and attested, they shall be binding on said incorporation according to the true intent and meaning of the same, and not before.

Sec. 12. That after the first election for president and trustees, the president and trustees shall act as judges of election, or any three of them shall and may act as the board of election.

Sec. 13. That the academy when erected and in opera-

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tion, shall at all times be open for the use and privilege of any free white person within the United States, who may wish to be instructed in said academy; provided, Said free white person will comply with the laws and by laws of said institution, and pay the sums fixed by the president and trustees for the instruction of the students or pupils attending at the same.

Sec. 14. That in case it should so happen that an election for president and trustees should not take place on the day on which it should take place according to law, the said corporation shall not for that cause be deemed dissolved, but that it shall be lawful, on any other day, to hold an election in the place of the one omitted to be held, in such manner as may be prescribed by the by-laws of said incorporation.

Sec. 15. The president and trustees shall make an annual dividend of all profits which may arise by said incorporation, if there should be any surplus, after defraying the expenses of said institution, unless the said president and trustees shall deem it to the interest of said institution to have all of the funds arising therefrom paid out in improving or repairing said buildings, or in purchasing books, or whatsoever else for the benefit or interest of said corporation.

Sec. 16. This act to take effect and be in force from its passage.2

Approved March 1, 1837.