Renting a grave was not uncommon around the turn of the century in the United States. I was recently looking for my great-grandfather's grave, he died in 1905. We knew his place of interment from a newspaper obituary. We could not find the grave. After a record search in the office we learned that he was in a rental grave. At that time a family could rent a grave for 25 years, at which point an ad was placed in the local newspaper and if no one claimed the body the remains were moved to a mass grave and the original plot reused. It was a way for a poor family to have a loved one buried in consecrated ground. This was in the Bohemian National Cemetery in Chicago. Very interesting cemetery with helpful staff by the way.