USA > Massachusetts > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. I > Part 1
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UMASS/AMHERST
312066009251855
TRIT
HISM
F-THE
CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
MASSACHUSETTS
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LIBRARY
AS
SACHUS
SETTS
NA . 1863 . SJ
DATE DUE
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LIBRARY
III
CARD
UNass. APR 5 T2
-
.
-
4
%
L. H. EVERTS, PUB, PHILA.
GOIST, DEL.
CONNECTICUT VALLEY, MASSACHUSETTS LOOKING NORTH FROM MI NONOTUCK.
1
HISTORY --- OF
THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY
IN MASSACHUSETTS,
LAWITH2
Illustrations and Biographical Sketches
OF
SOME OF ITS PROMINENT MEN AND PIONEERS.
COMPLETE IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
PHILADELPHIA: LOUIS H. EVERTS.
-1879. -
PRESS OF J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., PHILADELPHIA.
9:15 M 38h+ V.I
LIBRARY
MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST, MASS.
1-
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
THE History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, which has been in course of preparation during the past twelve months, is at length completed, and placed in the hands of the people.
The compilation of a work covering such a large extent of territory, and treating of events trans- piring through the lapse of two hundred and forty-three years, as can be readily understood, is a labor of extraordinary magnitude, involving a heavy outlay, and requiring a vast amount of research, the exercise of impartial judgment, and the most critical discrimination.
The subjects treated cover a wide range,-from the adventurous life of the pioneer of 1636, through every branch of human experience, industry, and knowledge, to the wonderful physical and intellectual development of the present day.
Materials for the work have been abundant. Several of the towns in the Valley possess excellent published histories, while the preserved files of newspapers and the various records constitute a mine of wealth which can scarcely be exhausted. The entire region abounds in rich treasures of local history, and such works as the excellent " History of Western Massachusetts," by Dr. Josiah Gilbert Holland, the numberless volumes in public and private libraries, colonial records, family genealogies, and biogra- phies of eminent men and women, are accessible at every turn.
The people of the Connecticut Valley are pre-eminently intelligent and widely alive to all which pertains to the history of their indomitable ancestors, and always ready to assist in the production of meri- torious works which may, in any manner, shed additional light upon the past.
The aim of the publisher of the present work has been to make it as full and reliable a compendium of the history of this beautiful and interesting region as a lavish expenditure of money, time, and talent could produce; and it is believed that no similar work has ever been published in this country which could compare with it, either in magnitude, variety and interest of subjects treated, or in the number and beauty of its illustrations, which amount to not far from five hundred, all excellent specimens of the engraver's art.
The plan of illustrating local histories is one which the people themselves have inaugurated, and which has so enhanced the appearance of each successive .volume, and: so increased the general interest therein, that it has been permanently and successfully adopted by the- publishers. The testimony of a most respectable majority of the citizens, wherever such publications. have been introduced, and especially among those most prominent and best capable of judging, is ample proof that portraits of those who have been or are citizens of a county at the date of publication; who by their enterprise, integrity, and publie spirit have materially aided its growth and prosperity, and whose lives have been worthy ex- amples, may very properly appear upon the pages of such local history.
Ex-Governor Seymour, of New York, remarked of the history of his own county, that the portraits therein of its deceased and living citizens greatly enhanced its value in his estimation. Dr. Holmes,
32072
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE.
State Librarian of New York, considers the illustrated portion, including personal sketches of prominent citizens, a feature which will become more interesting with the lapse of time, and one which gives additional value to the work.
The illustrations of each town, like its written history, are distinct and complete in themselves, and are selected as fair representatives of its worthy citizens, independently of any comparison with those of any other city or town. The highest ideal is not always reached, but the endeavor has been to handle this department with due regard to the rules of propriety and consistency, the tastes and desires of the people of the Valley, and the true interests of the publisher and the community.
This explanation is rendered necessary by the fact that there have been those who criticised without thoroughly understanding the system adopted, and without giving the subject due consideration. Every effort has been put forth to render this work as complete in all departments as possible, and to bring it fully up to the expectations of those who have so liberally indorsed it, with the confident belief that they will appreciate the labor and patient research necessary in the production of a work which contains, among other items, a hundred thousand proper names, and at least one thousand biographies and per- sonal sketches. Perfection is impossible, but the work is placed in the hands of its patrons with the hopeful assurance that its immense array of interesting facts will be invaluable to the student and his- torian, to the professional man and the mechanic, and to the farmer in the midst of his family.
The writers engaged upon the work have been almost invariably treated with the greatest courtesy, and have had every facility extended which the necessity of the case required, by county and town offi- cials ; by the clergy of all denominations, members of the bar, the medical profession, the press, the faculties of the various colleges, the principals of academies, seminaries, and schools, and by manufacturers and business men generally; to all of whom they acknowledge their sincere obligations. They would also gratefully remember the farming community, whose members have added in no small degree to the interest and value of the work.
To the following, among many hundreds of citizens, the publisher would acknowledge himself under special obligations : Judge Henry Morris, William Rice, D.D., and lady, Hon. William L. Smith, David P. Smith, M.D., C. C. Chaffee, M.D., Wm. G. Breck, M.D., P. Le B. Stickney, M.D., Gen. Horace Lee, Major Ingersoll, Paymaster United States Armory ; Capt. J. K. Newell, Brewer Brothers, druggists, A. P. Stone, all of Springfield ; Hon. E. H. Sawyer, Easthampton ; J. R. Trumbull, Rev. Dr. Gordon Hall, O. (). Roberts, M.D., Hamilton J. Cate, M.D., and Sheriff Longley, of Northampton; Ex-Gov. Wm. B. Washburn, Jas. S. Grinnell, Jona. W. D. Osgood, M.D., A. C. Deane, M.D., Hon. David Aiken, Judge C. C. Conant, and Rev. J. F. Moors, of Greenfield; Dr. Roswell Field, of Gill; Hon. George Sheldon, of Deerfield ; Dr. C. M. Duncan, of Shelburne; Dr. Parley Barton, of Orange; Jas. H. Waterman, M.D., and Henry Holland, of Westfield ; Dr. H. S. Lucas, of Chester ; and Dr. J. W. Rockwell, of Southwick.
PHILADELPHIA, P.A., July, 1879.
ERRATA.
On page 65, where mention is made of a small fort erected in Blandford about 1744, it is spoken of as being in the eastern part of Hampden County ; it should read western.
On page 855, Rev. A. D. Mayo is mentioned as settling in Springfield in 1874; it should be 1872.
Since the work went to press, Charles McClallan, whose portrait and biography appear between pages 980-81, has deceased, his death occurring on the 22d of June, 1879.
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I.
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY IN MASSACHUSETTS AND OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTI- CUT VALLEY IN MASSACHU- SETTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
I .- Introduction 9
Il .- Civil Divisions. 11 111 .- Topography. 14 IV .- Geological Outlines. 16
V .- Indian Occupancy 18
VI .- Early Explorers, Early l'atents of
New England, The Charter of
the Colony of Massachusetts Bay ..
22
VII .- The New England People, Origin
of the English Puritans, The Pilgrim Fathers ..... 25
VIII .- The Removal to the Connecticut Valley
1X .- The Founling of the Mother
Towns, the Planting of Spring- field in 1636. William Pynchon and his Books, the Planting of Westfield in 1640. Northampton in 1654.
31
X .- The Pequot War. 3G
XI .- The Separation of Springfield
from the Jurisdiction of Con- nectieut. 39
XII .- The Import Duty imposed by Con- nertient upon springfield in 1645, Kesisted by Massachusetts. 42
XIII .- Witchcraft.
41
XIV .- The Regicides. 50
XV .- King Philip's War. 53
XVI .- The French-and-Indian Wars GI
XVII .- The War of the Revolution. 66
XVIII .- The Shays Rebellion ... 75
XIX .- The War of 1812-15, The Washing- ton Benevolent Society.
XX .- Internal Improvements. 83
XXI .- Internal Navigation, Improve- ment of the Connectient River .. XXII .- Railways .. 97
XXIII .- Population, Industry and Wealth, Educational 106
XXIV .- Valley and County Agricultural Associations. 11]
XXV .- The Bar of the Connecticut Valley. 114
XXVI .- The Hampden County Bar .. 19]
XXVII .- The Bar of Franklin County. 12 XXVIII .- Homeropathy in Western Massa- chusetts. 134
XXIX .- Military. History of Organiza-
tions which served during the Rebellion 1861-65. The Tenth Regiment 136
XXX .- Eighteenthı, Twentieth, and
Twenty-First Regiments 145
XXXL .- Twenty-Seventh Regiment 146 XXXII .- Thirty-First, Thirty-Fourth,
Thirty-Seventh, and Forty-sixth
Regiments. 151
CHAPTER PAGE
XXXIII .- Fifty Second Regiment ... 154
XXXIV .- Fifty-Seventh and Sixty-First
Regiments, Artillery and Pay- alry 1G]
HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
CHAPTER PAGE
1 .- ('ivil Organization 163
11 .- The Courts, Cunnty Commissioners, and
County Building .. 163
Ill .- Representative Districts, tivil Lists 1G- Sinon Clark between 262, 263
IV .- Societies,
TOWNS OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY.
Northampton ... 172
Amherst.
Easthampton. 203
Westhampton
Sonthamplun
301
Hadley 317
South Hadley 347
Ware.
Hatfield ... 3×5
Williamsburg 404
Plainfieldl.
Cummington 439
Worthington 45-4
Middlefield. 405
Goshen 479
Chesterfield
Huntington 500
Belchertown. 521
Greenwich 534
Granby
l'elham. 54-
Prescott
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
PAGE
G. W. Śwazey, M.D. facing
134
Gen, Luke Lyman.
Dr. C. B. Smith. 15:2
Joseph K. Taylor .. 153
E. C. Clark. 154
Mark H. Spanlding. 15.1
Rev. Jonathan Edwards 201
Rev. John Hooker. 532, 533 2012
Rey. Solomon Williams
203
Rev. Samuel P. Williams 203
Rev. Mark Tucker, D.D. 207
Rev. Ichabod Spencer, D.D. 2117
Rev. John P. Cleaveland, D.D. 2017
Rev. Zachary Eddy, D.D .. 207
L. B. Williams
Luther Bouman 230
Daniel W. Bond 431
Austin W. Thompson, A.M., M.D. 231
0. 0. Roberts, M.D
232
Joseplins Crafts, 239 Henry A. Longley .. between 232, 233 H. K. Parsons. 232. 233
Ansel Wright.
233
George F. Wright ..
Gen. John Lord Otis 934
J. Ilowe Demond.
Samuel ( Carter. .facing
HIun. Edward Dickinson, L.L.D. 201
Waitstill Dikinson. 202
Ezra Ingranı facing 202
Hon. E. Il. Sawyer 2 3
Samuel Williston.
Horatiu G. Knight 2-6
Edwin R. Bosworth.
Willianı N. Clapp ... between 286, 2×7
Juseph W. Winslow, MI.D facing 287
AAllsel Clapp. 300
Jese Lyman. 301
Franklin Bonney, M.D 346
Eleazar Porter between 346, 347
Lorenzo N. Granger. 340, 347
Hon. Joseph Smith
346, 347
Sylvester smith. faring 347
Joseph Carew.
Martin W. Burnett. Between 35%. 350
C'apt. Broughton Alvord .... 358, 359
Deacon Moses Montagne, 358. 359
Hiramı Smith, deceased. :59
Hiram Smith ..
359
Ilon. C'ha -. A. Stevens
Epaphras Clark.
Kingsley Underwood 385
Joseph smith.
facing
402
Cyrus Miller. 420
Daniel Collins, M.D
Ilon. Iliram Nash
492
Elnathan Graves. 423
Thomas Meekins .. =
424
Benjamin S, Johnson.
Horace Cole 450
llon. E. Il. Brewster. 457
William D. Blush
Harvey Root.
Garry Mnuson ..
520
Jabin B. Willians. 521
Deacon Lyman sabin
Henry Graves, Jr. between 532. 533
Joseph K. Gonld ..
John HI. Morgan .... .facing 540
. P. Bailey. between 540, 541
Lynus Tourtellott.
Charles S. Record.
541
Achlison Grilley. .. facing
540
Dearon Samuel Smith.
548
C'apt. Win. B. Clark 548
[NOTE .- For woblitional biographical matter, see chapters on the legal and medical professions, and also the town histories.]
A
PAGE
16
250
CONTENTS.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
JAAGE
View of Connecticut Valley from Mt. Nono- turk (Frontispiece) .faring title. Map of the Connecticut Valley in Massachu- facing setts ..
Portrait of William Pynchon (steel) ..... " 31
Fac-simile of Tombstone of Mary Pynchon ... 32
page from William Pynchon's Court Record. 35
page from Pynchon's Record ... 41
Portrait of G. W. Swazey, M.D ............ facing 134
NORTHAMPTON.
Portrait of O. O. Roberts, M.D .. (steel) ... facing 135
Gen. Luke Lyman .. 146
E. (. {'lark 15-
M. H. Spaulding. = 155
Shackles of the Old Jail at Northampton ..... 167
Central Part of Northampton in 1839 ... facing
172
1879 ... 172
Memorial Hall and Public Library 184
Florence Manufacturing Co. Mills ... 21! Portrait of L. B. Williams (stecl) ......... faring 229 230
46 Luther Bodman (steel). ......
D. W. Bond (steel) ...... between 230, 231
A. W. Thompson (>teel) " 230,231 1
Josephus Crafts (steel) ........ facing 232
Il. A. Longley. .. between 232, 233
II. K. Parsons. 232, 233
Ansel Wright. .faring 233
Geo. F. Wright. 233
Gen. J. L. Otis (steel) 234
AMHERST.
Portrait of Samuel C. Carter .. .facing 250 The Amherst College Buildings and Grounds (double page). between 250, 251
Residence and Portrait of Oren Williams,
facing 251
Massachusetts Agricultural College 254
Desilence of E. Hobart .facing 254
W. S. Clark 255
Portrait of Hon. Edward Dickinson, LL.D. (steel) .. facing 201
Portrait of Waitstill Dickinson .....
262
Ezra Ingram. .facing 262
Simeon Clark ..
........ between 262, 263
EASTHAMPTON.
Residence of Hon. E. II. Sawyer .......... facing 264
Mrs. Emily G. Williston ... 265
PAGE
Town-Hall. 207
Portrait of Hon. E. H. Sawyer (strel) ... facing 283 Williston Seminary., .. between 284, 253
Portrait of Sam'l Williston (steel) " 284, 283
Horatio G. Knight (steel) .... facing 285 Edwin R. Bosworth (steel) ... " 286
William N. Clapp ...... between 286, 287
J. W. Winslow, M.I ...
....... faring 287
WESTHAMPTON.
Portrait of Ansel Clapp.
facing 300
Jesse Lyman 301
HINDLEY.
Hadley in 1663
319
Portrait of Franklin Bonney, M.D. (steel), facing 346
Portrait of Eleazar Porter ......... between 346, 347
Lorenzo N. Granger .. 346, 347
Ilon. Joseph Smith ... 340,347
= Sylvester Smith. facing 347
SOUTH HADLEY.
Mt. Holyoke Seminary (steel) .facing 351
Lyman Williston Hall (steel)
351
Carew Paper Co., Hadley Falls.
353
Congregational Church.
355
Residence of Joseph Carew.
355
Hampshire Paper Co. Mills ... 351
=
Martin W. Burnett ...... between 358, 359
Capt. Broughton Alvord " 358, 350
=
Dea. Moses Montague
358, 359
=
Hiram Smith, deceased ....
.facing 350
Hiram Smith
359
WARE.
Portrait of Ion. Chas. A. Stevens (steel).facing 375
ENFIELD,
Residence of Henry Fobes. facing 376
J. J. Howe 376
L. F. Shearer 377
David Blodgett.
377
=
=
Lyman D. Potter
382
E. P. Smith
383
Portrait of Epaphras Clark
384
Kingsley U'mlerwood.
46
385
HATFIELD.
PAGE
Residence of Wm. H. Dickinson ....
.. facing
386
Smith Academy.
394
Portrait of Joseph Smith ..
.facing
402
Residence of Joseph S. Wells ...
402
WILLIAMSBURG.
Portrait of Cyrus Miller.
facing
420
Dr. Daniel Collins. 421
Hon. Hiram Nash 429
Elnathan Graves 423
Thomas Meekins
=
Benjamin S. Johnson
425
CUMMINGTON.
Residence of L. J. Orcutt ...
facing 410
WORTHINGTON.
Portrait of Hon. E. H. Brewster.
.. facing
456
Horace Cole ..
45.
MIDDLEFIELD.
Portrait of Win. D. Blush
facing 478
Harvey Root
479
HUNTINGTON.
Portrait of Garry Munson ..
facing 520
Jabin B. Williams.
521
BELCHERTOWN.
Portrait of .Joseph R. Gould.
facing 327
Deacon Lyman Sabin ...
532
Henry Graves, Ir.
GREENWICH.
Portrait of Johni II. Morgan ......
facing 540
S. P. Bailey
.. between 540, 541
Residence of Estes Shumway ....
....
540, 341
and Portrait of Lynus Tourtellott, facing 541
Portrait of C. S. Record.
542
GRANBY.
Portrait of Dr. C. B. Smith ..
facing
152
Joseph K. Taylor.
153
Addison Gridley 546
William B. Clark
1547
Sammel Smith.
547
1
..
J. Howe Demond (steel)
235
Portrait of Joseph Carew (steel) ...
.... facing 358
-
MAP OF THE
ONNECTICUT VALLEY .
IN MASSACHUSETTS. EMBRACING THE COUNTIES OF FRANKLIN. HAMPSHIRE & HAMPDEN.
ENGRAVED EXPRESSLY FOR THIS WORK
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HISTORY
OF THE
CONNECTICUT VALLEY IN MASSACHUSETTS.
BY NATHANIEL BARTLETT SYLVESTER.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION. I. SCOPE OF THE WORK.
AROUND the valley of the Connecticut* River, where, in its course from the mountains to the sea, the stream crosses the State of Massachusetts, ; clusters an untold wealth of historic memories.
The long history of this valley-long for the New World- begins, strictly speaking, with the story of the building, by John Cable and his companion John Woodcock, in the sun- mer of 1635, of a solitary hut on the old Indian muck-cos- quit-taj, meadow, or eorn-planting ground, called Ag-a-wam, which lay along the southern bank of the Ag-a-wam River, a half-mile above its mouth, on the west side of the Quon-eh-ti- cut, nearly opposite what is now the city of Springfield. Or, in a wider sense, it may be said, the history of the Connecti- cut Valley, in Massachusetts, begins with the planting of Springfield itself, near Us-quaiok, on the east bank of the Quon-eh-ti-cut River, "over against" the Indian meadows Ag- a-wam and Qua-na, by William Pynchon and his little band of pioneer settlers, in the early spring of the year 1636, and begins anew, as it were, with the planting of each new settle- ment in the valley. It begins anew with the story of the early founding of the plantation of Northampton, in the year 1653, on the old Indian hunting-ground and meadows called Non-o-tuck ;} with the planting of Hadley in the year 1661, on the site of the Indian hunting-ground called Nol-wo-togg ; ¿ with the organization of the above-named pioneer towns of Springfield, Northampton, and Hadley, and certain contigu- ous territory, comprising half the State, as early as the year 1663, into the old county of Hampshire; with the first occupa- tion of the Indian beaver-hunting country, called H'o-ro- noak, now Westfield, by the Connecticut fur-traders in 1640,| and its permanent settlement by Springfield people in 1669; with the planting of Hatfield in 1670, of the laying out of Deerfield on the old Indian hunting-ground Pa-comp-tuck in 1672,T and of the reservation by commissioners for a town of Northfield at the Indian Squak-hcag in 1669 ;** and so the his- tory stretches on through all the intervening years, until the
* From the Indian Quon-eh-ti-cut, "The Long River."-Trumbull's Hist. Conn. Quinnituk, "long tidal river;" Quinnituk-ut, country on either side of "long tidal river."-Col. Conn. Hist. Society, Vol. II., p. 8.
+ From the Indian Muis-tchu-seug, "country this side of the mountain."-Pow- nall's Top. Description of North Am. Muss-udchu-sit, "near the great ik
-Col. Conn. Hist. Society, Vol. II., p. 20.
# Mass. Col. Rec., Vol. III., p. 304.
? Mass. Col. Rec., Vol. IV., Part II., p. 13.
| Seo Mass. Col. Rec., Vol. I., p. 323.
T Mass. Col. Rec., Vol. 1V., Part II., p. 558.
** Mass. Col. Rec., Vol. I., Part II., p. 436.
2
story is told of the final division of the old, historic county of Hampshire into four counties, and of the planting of all the seventy and one towns of the three counties of which this work treats,-the last of which, the town of Hampden, in Hampden County, was organized in the year 1878, just two hundred and forty-two years after the planting of Springfield in 1636.
In pursuing the history of this valley through the changing scenes and the varying fortunes of its almost two centuries and a half of existence as the home of the white man and the abode of Christian civilization, we shall first see in our mind's eye the opening clearing upon the site of the city of Springfield, in the dawn of its birth-year, 1636, with the early traces of what was long its only street-now Main Street-laid out along the " town brook," and facing the long, narrow "home lots" of the settlers, which lots extended from the street to the river, while at the rnde wharf is moored Governor Winthrop's little shallop of thirty tons burden, called the "Blessing of the Bay,"tt which of a truth might well be called the " May- flower" of Springfield, in which the first inhabitants, when they started with their wives and little ones on the old Indian trail, since known as the " Bay P'ath," for their far-off wilder- ness home, sent round by water their scanty store of house- hold goods.
We shall see at the infant settlements of Springfield, Northampton, Hadley, Westfield, Hatfield, Deerfield, and Northfield, as they successively spring up in the depths of the virgin wilderness, the first half-dozen log huts in the centres of little clearings, hewn out of the before unbroken forests, bordered on either side by a hundred miles of pathless woods. We shall see at these rude pioneer homes the father, with his gun by his side, planting his corn among the black- ened logs or in the little Indian meadow on the river's hanks. We shall see the mother, surrounded by her infant children, plying her daily toil within the single room of the humble log dwelling, and often casting anxious glances into the shadowy woods, which her imagination peoples with hordes of wild beasts and wilder men, and with troops of witches, goblins, and other uncanny things. We shall see in the daily struggles for the daily bread, in the hardships and dangers, in the som- bre religious life of those early pioneer homes, the origin and the growth of those homely and sturdy virtues upon which the prosperity of great States has since been so securely founded.
We shall follow the varying fortunes of these pioneers of the wilderness and their descendants,-the people of the Con- necticut Valley,-through the weary years of the witchcraft delusion, into the clearer light of more auspicious times. We shall witness their sufferings, their fortitude, their bravery,
H Built at Mystick and launched July 4, 1631, being the second bark built in the colony .- Young's Chron. of Mass., p. 185.
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HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
their triumphs, in the Pequot and King Philip wars, and through the long and bloody French and Indian wars. We shall dwell with pride upon the noble part they took in the war for Independence, and bring the story to its close in re- counting the wonderful development of the last fifty years,-a progress which has made the valley to-day almost a continuous city, stretching along both banks of its beautiful river across the entire State from north to south, inhabited by almost two hundred thousand people, counting their aggregate wealth by tens of millions, enriching all lands with the material prod- uets of their countless workshops, and enlightening the world by the precious fruits of their intellectual labors. And all this long story, from the date of the weak and weary years of the first feeble settlements in the valley, early in the seven- teenth century, to the present era of its prosperity and power in the closing years of the nineteenth,-a period of more than two hundred and forty years,-is but the story of the struggles and the triumphs, the ceaseless endeavor and fruitful achiev- ments, of a branch of that people which must be classed among the most remarkable the world ever produced,-the people of New England.
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