USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Seymour > Seymour, past and present > Part 19
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
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interest in political affairs but was justice of the peace for some years and was also a member of the board of relief. He died April 4, 1887, aged nearly eighty years, leaving a son, Charles Roselle, and a daughter, Mrs. Samuel A. Beach, both of Seymour.
HARRIS B. MUNSON was born in Middlebury in 1821, came to Humphreysville about 1835 and worked at his trade of carpenter, teaching the Cedar Ridge school in the winters of 18.43-4 and '44-5. He studied law and was admitted to practice in 1846 and in the spring of 1852 he was elected justice of the peace, which office he held for eighteen years. From 1852 to 1854 he was a judge of the county court. In 1853 he was elected representative, was re-elected in 1854, and in 1863-4-5-6-7, representing the town in the General As- sembly for seven years. He managed successfully many important legal cases and was widely known throughout the state. He died in Seymour Feb. 2. 1885.
FREDERICK M. CLEMONS served in the War of 1861-5 in Co. D, 23d C. V., and after the war was for years the superintendent of the Birmingham Iron Foundry Co.'s works, but made his home in Seymour. In 1875 he was elected selectman and was re-elected in 1876. He also served several years as a member of the board of education of the town of Seymour. He was one of the trustees of the Great Hill M. E. church and was a liberal contributor to its funds. He was a man of untiring energy and was intrusted with great responsibilities in which he always acquitted himself well.
He was a member of Upson Post, G. A. R., of Seymour ; of Ousatonic Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Derby ; of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., of Seymour; Clark Commandery, Knights Templar, of Waterbury; and intermediate orders. He died July 25, 1885, aged fortyseven years.
CAPT. PHILO HOLBROOK was for nine years the master of a ship engaged in the West India trade. His home was in the south part of the town, in the section known as Kinneytown. He was one of the selectmen of the town in 1855 and 1865, and in 1869 represented the town in the General Assembly. He was for thirtynine years a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M. He died Nov. 18, 1878, aged seventyseven years.
DAVID BETTS, originally from Woodbury, was a resident of Seymour for nearly forty years. After a short residence in Derby he came to Seymour in February 1853, and kept a drug store in
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French's building, now Canfield's. From May 1853, to April 1861, le was postmaster. In 1861 he was elected town treasurer, and was re-elected in '62 and '63.
He afterward kept a store in Davis' block, and later took in Morris Atwood as a partner. Mr. Betts sold his interest to Charles French who was associated with Atwood under the firm name of Atwood & French. Mr. Betts sometime later repurchased Mr French's interest and the grocery business was given up and a clothing business was opened and continued for some years, but for several years before his death he had been retired from business. He was highly esteemed by all who knew him and will be remem- ered as an upright and conscientious citizen.
CAPTAIN WILSON WYANT, Son of John and Charlotte Wyant of New Milford, was born Mar. 18, 1818. He came to Hum- hreysville in 1839 and worked in Smith's papermill and later in )wight & French's auger works. On June 13th, 1846, he was com- nissioned a lieutenant of the Humphreysville Greys, 5th Light Infan- ry, 2nd regiment, of the militia of Connecticut, his commission being ssued and signed by Gov. Isaac Toucey of New Haven. Upon the outbreak of the rebellion in 1861 he enlisted, April 22d, serving is a private in Company E, 5th Connecticut Volunteers, until June 'Ist, when he was commissioned ist lieutenant of the company by William B. Buckingham, Connecticut's famous War Governor, and soon after was commissioned captain of Co. E, 5th C. V. I. He vas in active service until Jan. 31st, 1863, when he resigned his command on account of ill health.
In 1840 he married Violet Northrop of Sherman, Conn. They lad five children, Charlotte, Minnie, Jennie, Wilson D. and Charles, only two of whom survive him, Wilson D. Wyant and Mrs. John I. Morris. Capt. Wyant was a member of the M. E. church, and when the second church was built, in 1847-8, he was one of the trustees. He died March 29, 1890.
CORNELIUS W. JAMES, son of Thomas James, was educated in the common schools of Seymour and in the Glendenning Acad- emy. He was engaged in the copper business, in which his ancestors had been skilled for generations, and was for five years secretary and treasurer of the New Haven Copper Co. He was elected Selectman of the town of Seymour in 1874 and again
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in 1875, and was for a number of years a member of the School' Board and one of the Acting School Visitors. He was also for twelve years a member of the Board of Relief, and discharged the duties of the several offices to which he had been elected to the en- tire satisfaction of his constituents.
He was for a number of years Assistant Chief of the Fire De- partment, and was a member of Mechanics' Lodge, I. O. O. F .; of Humphrey Lodge, K. of P .; of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., New Haven Commandery, Knights Templar; Pyramid Temple, of Bridgeport, and intermediate orders. He died Sept. 21, 1892, aged 50 years.
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NATHAN HOLBROOK of Great Hill was a man of strong temper- ance principles and unquestioned integrity and was greatly respect- ed by all who knew him. He was twice elected selectman and four times for terms of three years each as member of the board of education, which office he held at the time of his death. He died May 9th. 1887, aged 57 years.
CHARLES A. WOOSTER, son of Clark and Grace Wooster, was at one time engaged in the manufacture of axes in a shop on Little River. He was afterward associated with S. R. Dean and Virgil Buckingham in mercantile business. He was for nearly forty years a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M. He died Nov. 10, 1891, aged seventy years.
JOHN N. POPP, son of Conrad and Catherina Popp, was born in Stambach, Germany, in 1842, and came to America in 1865, and established a merchant tailoring store in Seymour, employing from twelve to fifteen men in his custom work for this and neighboring cities and towns. He was a leading member of the famous Con- cordia Singing Society, and was also a member of several fraternal orders, including the Freemasons, the Odd Fellows, and the United Workmen. He died Oct. 2, 1897, aged fiftyfive years.
HORATIO N. EGGLESTON, from Berkshire, Mass., was for manly years engaged in railroad building. He had charge'of the work on the Naugatuck Railroad from Seymour to Winsted, and had contracts on railroads in Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Vir- ginia. At the time the war broke out he was engaged on a rail- road in Virginia and was living at Leesburg, from whence he came northward before the lines were so closely drawn as to prevent. He was in the employ of Hon. C. French for twentyseven
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years, during the first part of that time as travelling agent for the car spring works. He was for many years a member of the school board and a vestryman of Trinity church. In 1873 he represented the town in the General Assembly. He died April 1, 1893, aged 65 years.
OLIVER STODDARD CHATFIELD, son of Joel and Ruth, in his earlier years, tried life on the sea but after some experience in the shipping trade between New Haven and the West Indies was con- tent to remain on the land. He was for some years captain of a military company in Bethany and ran his father's sawmill, furnish- ing the timber for the older Yale College buildings, for the first. M. E. church that formerly stood on the corner of the New Haven Green, and for other prominent buildings of that period.
He married in 1822 Abigail Tuttle, daughter of Amasa and Sybil ( Wooster ) Tuttle, who lived near Quassapaug Lake, in Mid- dlebury. She was born March 28, 1802; was for sixtyseven years a member of the Seymour M. E. church, and died April 14, 1887. They made their home in the fine old family mansion which stands
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on the New Haven road exactly on the Woodbridge town line, bu after the incorporation of the town of Seymour Mr. Chatfield was accounted a resident thereof. This place is now owned by his daughter, Mrs. Mary J. Ford.
He was a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., of Sey. mour, and a Royal Arch Mason, and at his death was one of the oldest in the state. He was one of the most liberal contributors for the building of the second Methodist church in 1847. He owned five farms, in Seymour, Woodbridge and Bethany.
Of his children, Howard G. Chatfield lives in Seymour and Henry G. Chatfield in Woodbridge. Another son, Charles C. Chat- field, graduated at Yale in '66. In his senior year he began the publication of the Yale Courant, the first college paper in the country. He was the class poet and was a leading member of the West Chapel street church, now merged into Trinity, having with his brother George been in it since his college days, when they with others started the Sundayschool which was the nucleus of the church. He published Barker's Chemistry, Bogg's Four Years at Yale, Day's Logical Tracts, Half Hours with Modern Scientists, Sermons by President Woolsey, etc. He also kept the College Bookstore. He afterward became the editor of the New England School Journal, which position he filled ably until his death. He died Aug. 22, 1876, aged thirtyfive years.
DR. THOMAS STODDARD, son of Dr. Abiram Stoddard, gradu- ated at Yale in 1836 and practiced medicine in his native town for some years, but later preferred not to practice except in occa- sional special cases. He married Esther Ann Gilbert, daughter of Ezekiel Gilbert, July 31, 1819. His home was in the fine old man -. sion at the foot of Pearl street, facing centrally on South Main street : the grand old elms and maples which line the wide street making in summer time a leafy arch over the avenue. Dr. Stod- dard died Sept. 29, 1887, aged seventyfour years, leaving two daughters and one son-Frances E., wife of Judge Samuel L. Bron- son of New Haven, Miss Sarah G. Stoddard, and Ezekiel Stoddard of New Haven, wholesale merchant, president of the New Haven County National Bank, and a director of the Union Trust Company.
ROBERT MCKAY was a native of Helensburgh, on the river Clyde, near Glasgow, Scotland. He served in the English navy as a marine, for many years, and in the Crimean War went ashore with the
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heavy artillery and took part in the battles of Alma, Sebastopol and Balaklava. He was an accomplished artillerist and at the close of the war he was detailed in charge of certain work at the Wool- wich Arsenal, where he remained several years. For his service in the Crimean War he received two medals, one of which bore the head of the Queen with the inscription "Victoria Regina, 1855," on the obverse ; and on the reverse a figure of Victory placing a crown of laurels upon the head of a soldier, with the word Crimea. The medal is pendant from bars bearing the names "Sebastopol, Bal- aklava." The other medal was presented by the Sultan of Turkey. Mr. Mckay came to America in 1869, coming direct to Seymour, where he made his home until his death, July 1, 1898. He was one of the official members of the M. E. church. He left two sons and three daughters, James G., Robert B., Rose and Jennie Mckay, all of Seymour, and Mrs. Carrie Kelsey of Waverly, N. Y.
HARRISON TOMLINSON, son of Truman and Nancy ( Perry ) Tom- linson, was born Apr. 25, 1814, at Castleton, Vermont, where the family moved from Oxford and lived a few years, returning to the old Tomlinson homestead on Rockhouse Hill. He came to Hum- phreysville in 1839 and became prominent in business and was iden- tified with the growing industries of the place. He was a merchant, doing a large business, at the southeast corner of Maple and Pearl streets, until 1852, when with Henry S. Mygatt, he opened the store opposite the railroad station, then called the Eagle store.
He was one of the directors of the Humphreysville Copper Company, of the Bank of North America, and of the Eagle Manufac- turing Company, and one of the incorporators of the Humphreys- ville High School Association, and was for many years a vestryman of Trinity church. On Ang. 24, 1840, he was commissioned Ensign of the 7th Company. 2d Regiment, by General Rose. He bought the Moulthrop property on Maple street and in 1853 built the brick house which was occupied by his family until after the death of his widow, when it was purchased in 1882 by Frank H. Beecher. He married Emeret Davis, daughter of Capt. Truman Davis of Nauga- tuck. He died Nov. 28, 1855, leaving three daughters, Mary, Emma S., and Harriet, wife of Horace J. Chatfield of Waterbury.
CHARLES WASHBURN STORRS was a descendant of the sixth gen- eration from Samuel Storrs, one of the Puritans, who came to Barn- stable, Mass., in 1663. He was a great-grandson of Rev. Mr. Wood-
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bridge, after whom the town of Woodbridge was named. The pa -- ternal line was-John Roger, Roger, Lemuel, Thomas, Samuel. Jr., and Samuel, Sr., the immigrant.
Mr. Storrs was for many years a successful merchant of Sey- mour. He was in 1847 Lieutenant of the Humphreysville Greys and was a member of the board of education from 1867 to 1871. He died Jan. 26, 1889, aged sixty years.
HENRY BRADLEY came from Oxford to Seymour in 1852 and was in the mercantile business in the place over forty years, first in the stove and tinware business and afterward in general merchan- dise in company with F. M. Lum. He was selectman for twelve years, and for several years was assessor, registrar of electors and registrar of vital statistics. He has been a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., since 1854, and is a member of New Haven Commandery, K. T., Lafayette Consistory, S. P. R. S., of Bridge- port, and intermediate orders ; of Mechanics Lodge, I. O. O. F. and of Nonnawauk Tribe, I. O. R. M. Mr. Bradley has one daugh- ter, Mrs. D. G. Webster, of Springfield. Mass. He removed to that city in 1899.
DR. SHELDON C. JOHNSON settled in Seymour in 1825 and prac- ticed here about sixty years. He died in 1887, aged nearly ninety years. He left three sons, Henry C. and Harold St. Clair Johnson, merchants, of New Haven, and Oscar E. Johnson, of San Francisco; and three daughters, Mrs. G. R. Elliot and Mrs. J. T. Forsey of Seymour, and Mrs. Harry Leigh of New Haven.
Dr. SAMUEL SANFORD, from Bethany, who died in 1803, after practising here ten years or more, Dr. S. C. Johnson, and Dr. Ken- dall, covered a period of nearly a century, though others had in the meantime came and gone.
DR. J. D. A. YALE, a botanic physician, practised here in 1847-9 and was active in social and literary circles, especially in the Hum- phreysville Lyceum, which met in the basement of the Congrega_ tional church in the winter 1847-8, and later in what is now Grand Army hall. In 1849 he joined a large party going to California to search for gold, as physician for the party, and died there.
DR. AUGUSTUS R. VAIL, a homeopath physician, practised here for a few years, dying Feb. 24, 1872, aged thirtysix years. Dr. N. B. Bailey was here a few years in the seventies, removing to Bridge- port.
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FREDERICK W. PULFORD, M. D., born in Leeds, Yorkshire, Eng., Aug. 21, 1826, came to America in 1838 and settled in Ridgeville, Ohio. He was educated at the Pulte Medical College of Cincinnati, Ohio, receiving his diploma in 1865. He practiced for a short time in Ohio, then located in Massachusetts, where he practiced for sex- eral years, coming to Seymour in 1876. He had a large practice in Seymour and adjoining towns. He died June 3, 1893, aged sixtysix years, leaving four children, Charles H. Pulford, M. D., and Mrs. A. J. Miles, of Seymour; Wm. E. Pulford of Prospect, and Rufus A. Pulford of Waterbury.
EGBERT R. WARNER, M. D., son of Randall A. and Elizabeth S. Warner, was born in Thomaston Dec. 25, 1855. He studied at the Thomaston Academy and with Dr. Goodwin of that place, and af- terward at Yale where he graduated in 1876. He located in Sey- mour as practicing physician the following October and soon had a large practice. He was highly esteemed, both as a skilful physician and for the highest qualities of mind and heart. He was married to Miss Delia E. Stout Jan. 24, 1SS3. He died Dec. 31, 1895, aged 36 years, leaving two children, Charles R. and Helen T. Warner,
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WM. H. WILLIAMS was born in Bethany in 1850 and with but r limited school advantages came in 1870 to study law with the late Judge Harris B. Munson. He was examined for admission to the bar in 1873 and was approved, and in January, 1874, at the opening of the Superior Court in New Haven, he was admitted to practice in any court in the state. Mr. Williams practiced law in Seymour until 1882, when he removed to Birmingham, where he has since made his home. Mr. Williams is now State's Attorney for New Haven County and is one of the ablest and most respected lawyers in the state. He was a charter member of Humphrey Lodge of Seymour, in which he still retains his membership, and has been Grand Chancellor of the order in the state.
HENRY A. RIDER.
Henry A. Rider, born in Danbury, Conn., in 1832, is a son of Ralph and Harriet (Chapman) Rider, and a descendant of Capt. Phineas Chapman, who served in the Revolutionary War. He came to Seymour in 1853 and in 1855 engaged in the livery business, which he carried on for many years, and was also extensively en-
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gaged in stockraising on his Castle Rock Stock Farm. He has also done a large real estate business. During the war of 1861-5 he was an etlisting off cer and provost marshal. He was treasurer of the town of Seymour for many years, and has filled other town offices. He has been a member of Morning Star Lodge, F. & A. M., of Seymour, since 1865, and of Solomon Chapter, R. A. M., of Derby.
He married Miss Sophia J. Carter, a great-granddaughter of Capt. Ichabod Tuttle, who served in the Revolutionary War, en- listing from Herkimer county, N. Y. They have three children, Geo. A. Rider of Buffalo, N. Y, and Mrs. C. H. Storrs and Miss Addie E. Rider of Ansonia. Mr. Rider removed to Ansonia in 1900.
CARLOS HOTCHKISS STORRS, son of Chas. W. and Mary L. Storrs of Seymour, graduated at the Derby high school and then went to the Wesleyan University at Middletown where he completed the classical course in 1887, and graduated with the degree of B. A. In 1890 that institution conferred upon him the degree of M. A. In the meantime he had entered Yale Law School where he gradu- ated in 1889. He was later in the office of Wooster, Williams & Gager, and afterward practiced in Seymour and Ansonia. He has since removed to Ansonia.
PRESENT RESIDENTS.
Seymour is genuinely representative of the cosmopolitan char- acter of the people of the United States, its population being largely composed of the descendants of the best communities of Europe. While Great Britain is most largely represented, by people from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and their descendants, there are also numerous representatives of the countries of the con- tinent, Germany, Holland, and Sweden, descendants of the Hague- nots and the Palatines, of the Normans and of the Saxons, of those who came over in the MayHower and of those who have since crossed the seas to help build the great republic of the new world, people originally of many nationalities, but now all devoted citizens of the "best country in the world."
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HON. CARLOS FRENCH.
Hon. Carlos French, son of Raymond and Olive French, was born in Humphreysville (now Seymour), August 6, 1835, and was educated in the schools of Seymour and at General Russell's school, New Haven. He was an energetic young man with an inventive mind. In riding upon the cars he noticed the excessive jolting and began studying for some means of improvement in this respect, his study resulting in the invention of a steel car spring which soon came into general use. The springs were for some years manufac- tured in Seymour under his personal supervision.
Mr. French represented the town of Seymour in the legislature in 1860 and 1868, and in 1888 he was elected to the Fiftieth Con- gress, receiving 18,730 votes against 17,402 votes for Lewis, Repub- lican : 1,649 votes for Mansfield, Labor candidate, and 1, 336 votes for Augur, Prohibitionist. He represented his district auly and effectively, and was a member of the Democratic national commit- tee, but declined a renomination.
He is a director of the Second National Bank and of the New York, New Haven & Hartford R. R. Co., is the president and
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treasurer of the Fowler Nail Co., and was the orgamzer of the Arethusa Spring Water Co. of Seymour. The employees of the works under his supervision have always been well paid and in none of his manufacturing enterprises has there been sich a thing as a strike among the workmen, andI sometimes when business has been dull the works have been run without profit in order to continue to give the employees the benefit of their earnings. He has ever been guided by a spirit of fairness and liberality toward his employes and in his dealings with them this sense of fairness, justice and love of humanity has been invariably manifested. Respecting the right of every man to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence, his own acts and deeds have promoted those principles upon which our forefathers builded the republic. His record is without blemish and he is honored by all who know him. Mr. French has been a liberal contributor for the Seymour Public Library, and it is to him that the people of Seymour are in- debted for the gift of the Seymour park, of fourteen acres, mentioned elsewhere.
JAMES SWAN.
James Swan, son of William and Mary ( Beck . Swan, was born in Dumfries, Scotland, Dec. 18, 1833. He is a first cousin of Hon. James B. Beck, of Kentucky, who was a Representative in the For- tieth, Forty-first, Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses, and was twice elected U. S. Senator for six years, and was the only member of Congress from the south who remained true to the Union during the War of the Rebellion. Mr. Swan's mother was sister to Mr. Beck's father, and in their boyhood the two youths were school- mates in Dumfrieshire. In them all were embodied the many ex- cellent traits of the sturdy Scotch race, a race of brave, honest and noble men and women, who in the olden times were a bulwark against tyranny and persecution for conscience sake. They endured hardship manfully and braved every danger in maintaining the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own con- sciences. They were hunted in the mountains and in the valleys, and many died rather than prove recreant to their faith, bearing all with a firm reliance on a higher power, and their descend- ants may well point with pride to the heroic deeds of their an- cestors. A single instance may be given :
In the town of Dalswinton, Scotland, there lived in the time of the persecution of the Covenanters a man by the nun . of Wil-
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liam Swan, who was devoted to the cause of the Covenanters and always ready to give aid and shelter to those who were suffering for righteousness sake. His house was on a hill from which he could see for a long distance in every direction.
It happened one day that a party of the Covenanters were hidden in his barn, and a spy informed the soldiers of the fact, and they started for the place, but Mrs. Swan, who was ever on the alert, discovered their approach in time and Mr. Swan quickly de- vised and put in execution a plan which proved successful in accom- plishing the deliverance of the Covenanters. When the dragoons ap- proached William Swan was heard having a vehement controversy with his wife over some wool, at the barn. He drove his wife from the barn, and in an angry manner threw her a bundle of wool, tell- ing her to make what use she pleased of it, at the same time notifying her that he would not allow her or any other person in his barn, and locking the door in the face of the soldiers, exclaimed, "Let me see the person who dares to enter this barn without my permis- sion." The scheme was a success and the dragoons marched away believing that the information respecting Mr. Swan was false. For centuries the family has lived in the same valley, as the inscriptions in the ancient cemetery attest, keeping alive and active the spirit of liberty and religious freedom.
James Swan, reared in such an atmosphere of religion and of patriotism, was given a good common school education and was early apprenticed to learn the trade of millwrighting, his master be- ing one of the most skillful workmen in the craft, his trade embrac- ing work in both wood and iron. In 1853 he came to this country and for several years was in the employ of the Farrel Foundry & Machine Co. of Ansonia, the last five years as superintendent. In 1865 the Oliver Ames Company engaged him to come to Seymour as superintendent of their augur and bit works, which position he held until 1876, when he bought the company's business and real estate and enlarged the business to include an extensive line of edge tools, and now manufactures more than a hundred varieties of mechanics' tools. He has made careful and continuous study of the tools and the processes of manufacture, with the result that he has taken out more than seventy patents for various improvements which have not only improved the goods in many respects, but have decreased the cost of manufacture.
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