Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I, Part 63

Author: Cutter, William Richard, 1847-1918, ed; Adams, William Frederick, 1848-
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 924


USA > Massachusetts > Genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of the state of Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 63


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(IV) John (3), eldest son and fourth child of John (2) and Mindwell (Sheldon ) (Pom- eroy ) Lyman, was born at South Farms, Northampton, Massachusetts, October 12, 1693, died at Hockanum, Connecticut, Novem- ber 9, 1797. He lived for most of his life on the so-called "Plain." South Farms, North- ampton, where his children were born and where he had erected a house about the time of his marriage in 1716 to Abigail Mosely, of ยท Westfield, who died November 9, 1750, after bearing him nine children. He was known as Captain John Lyman by reason of his rank in the military company raised for the pro- tection of the early settlers from the Indians. His home was burned at midnight December 8-9, 1747, and all the members of the family escaped from the burning building except two of his daughters, Hannah, aged fourteen years, and Abigail, aged twenty-two years, who were burned to death. This calamity determined his removal to Hockanum about 1745, where he became a large landholder. After the death of his first wife, the mother of all his children, he was married to Widow Theoda (Hunt) Sheldon. Children of John and Abigail ( Mosely) Lyman were born on the "Plain," South Farms, in the town of Northampton,


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Massachusetts, as follows: I. Zadoc (q. v.). 2. Mindwell, 1721, married Ebenezer Pom- eroy and died October 9, 1797. 3. John, Octo- ber 7, 1723, lived on the homestead, married Hannah, daughter of Jonathan Strong, had twelve children; his eldest son and three of his daughters were deaf mutes; he died No- vember 4, 1797. 4. Abigail, 1725, was burned to death, 1747. 5. Dorcas, 1727, married (first ) Noah Clapp and (second) Josiah Moody. 6. Sarah, 1730, married Supply Clapp. 7. Hannah, 1733, burned to death 1747. 8. Eleanor, 1735, married (first) Stephen Pom- eroy and ( second ) Oliver Morton. 9. Caleb, June 21, 1738, married Mehitable Strong, re- moved to the state of New York and their son, Caleb Junior, married Azubah Cooley and had a daughter Martha.


(V) Zadoc, eldest child of John (3) and Abigail (Mosely) Lyman, was born on the homestead at South Farms, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1719, died in Hockanum, Connecticut, October 14, 1754. He removed with his father to Hockanum, Hart ford county, Connecticut, about 1745, where he kept a public house and became a prominent citizen of the town. He married Sarah, daughter of Ebenezer Clark, and she became the mother of his four children. After the death of the father of these children, she married ( second) John Wright, of Northampton, Massachusetts. The children of Zadoc and Sarah (Clark) Ly- man were born in Hockanum, Connecticut, as follows: I. Israel (q. v.). 2. Azariah, De- cember, 1747, married Jemima, daughter of Samuel Kingsley, March 17, 1774; lived in Westhampton, had seven children born be- tween February 19, 1775, and March 9, 1789, and died in Westhampton, October 28, 1833. 3. Abigail, 1751, married Ephraim Wright, of Westhampton. 4. Luke, January 8, 1753, married Susanna, daughter of Joel Hunt, De- cember 21, 1780, had eight children born be- tween January 27, 1782, and September 4. 1796, and died January 12, 1825.


(VI) Israel, eldest child of Zadoc and Sarah (Clark ) Lyman, was born in Hockanum, Hart- ford county, Connecticut, February 7, 1746, died there June 8, 1830. He married Rebecca Beals, January 4, 1770. She was born June 8, 1747, died in Hockanum, Connecticut, De- cember 27, 1824. Children. born in Hocka- num, Connecticut, as follows: I. Sarah, Sep- tember 12, 1770, married Stephen Johnson, and died September 19, 1835. 2. Rachel, March 10, 1772, married Elijah Montague in 1784, for the following children : Wealthy, Moses,


Obed, Sarah Montague, and these children each married and had children. 3. Zadoc Samuel, March 26, 1774, married Hannah Watson, of Windsor, Connecticut ; kept a tav- ern at Hockanum; had nine children born of the marriage in Hockanum, Connecticut, be- tween November 13, 1797, and October 3, 1813. 4. Israel, August 9, 1775, died the next day. 5. Israel (q. v.), October 17, 1776. 6. Achsah, April 27, 1778, married Chester Clark, and died November 21, 1819. 7. Cynthia, April 8, 1780, married Aaron Graves, fifth son of Captain Seth and Eunice (Graves) Lyman, of Northfield, and died December 2, 1839. 8. Amaziah, February 13, 1782, married Eliza- beth Alvord, of South Hadley, had eleven children born in Hockanum between July 5, 1806, and December 31, 1825. 9. Hannah, . October 9, 1783, married Perez Smith, of South Hadley, and they had a large family of children, one bearing the name George Lyman Smith; she died in South Hadley, Massachu- setts, in 1861. 10. Elijah, November 13, 1785, died June 30, 1786. 11. Elijah, May 23, 1787, married Hadassa Moody, of South Hadley. 12. Enos, January 2, 1790, married Lydia Wadsworth, of Ellington, Connecticut, Janu- ary 29, 1817, and they had eight children born in Hockanum, Connecticut, between March 31, 1820, and May 29, 1837; he died Septem- ber 22, 1848. 13. George, December 13, 1792, married Laura - , lived in Ellington, Con- necticut, and had seven children between Sep- tember 18, 1820, and August 7, 1835 ; he died in Ellington, April 14, 1866.


(VII) Israel (2), third son and fifth child of Israel and Rebecca ( Beals) Lyman, was born in Hockanum, Hartford county, Connec- ticut, October 17, 1776, died there August 4, 1836. He was a farmer. May 13, 1802, he married Sarah Moody, born May 12, 1782, died March 17, 1848. Children, born in Hock- anum, Hartford county, Connecticut, as fol- lows: I. Alonzo, March 16, 1803, married Amelia Moody, of South Hadley, Massachu- setts. had five children between November 13, 1829, and February 9, 1839; died on his farm in South Hadley, September 25, 1840, leaving a widow and four children ; the widow placed these four children with the Shakers at En- field, Connecticut, to be brought up by that society. 2. Keziah Moody, January 19, 1805, married Moses Hubbard, a farmer living in Sunderland. 3. Maria, November 2, 1806, married, May 10, 1831, a Brown, who went to Michigan. 4. Almnon, March 16, 1808, mar- ried Clarissa Barnett, of South Hadley, had


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three children born between November 10, 1830, and September 14. 1837 ; died in South Hadley, September 25, 1840. 5. Israel Frank- lin, September 1I, 1810, married (first) Cath- erine A. Mann, ( second) Marcia Ann Lyman, and (third) Margaret E. Harmon; he had five children born between July 27, 1841, and May 26, 1867; four by his first wife and the fifth, Lizzie Marcia, by his second wife. 6. A son unnamed. February 8, 1813, lived only three days. 7. Harvey, August 26, 1814, mar- ried, June 24, 1854, Mary Ann , while an elderess of the Shaker faith, which faith in 1843 he with his mother and brothers, Elijah Austin and Edward Mason, had joined; on announcing his intention of marriage, he was an elder in the Society, he was banished under the law of the sect and was married in Spring- field, Massachusetts ; they had three children, all sons, born between April 31, 1855, and Feb- ruary 9, 1862, in Springfield, Massachusetts, named Charles Harvey, George Edward and John White. 8. Hadassah, October 27, 1816, married Henry E. Bartlett, of Hadley, and died October 1I, 1846. 9. Mary Pomeroy, No- vember 12, 1819, died January 29, 1820. 10. A son, born October 21, 1821, lived only three days. II. Elijah Austin, February 22, 1823, married Sophronia Pease, December 28, 1845, and lived in Easthampton, where four children were born between September 30, 1847, and March 30, 1862. 12. Edward Mason (q. v.).


(VIII) Edward Mason, youngest child of Israel and Sarah (Moody) Lyman, was born in South Hadley, Massachusetts, May 13, 1825. He was educated in the public schools of South Hadley, and in 1843 removed with his mother and brothers, Harvey and Elisha Austin, to the Shaker settlement at Enfield, Connecticut, and they joined that community and he remained a member up to 1854, when his brother Harvey, an elder in the society, married and the brothers left the community and settled in Springfield. He established the seed business in Springfield as Lyman and Son, which grew to large proportions, the firm both importing and exporting seeds and supplying dealers in both the New England and Middle States. He was an earnest advocate of tem- perance and affiliated with both the Sons of Temperance and the Good Templars organiza- tions. He was at one time a member of the Masonic fraternity, but withdrew from the order. He established the Plymouth Press and conducted it for a time, but subsequently disposed of the property. He married (first), on leaving the Shaker community, Caroline


Blodgett : children: I. Gilbert Edward, born February 2, 1856, died December 2, 1859. 2. John Alonzo, born March 12, 1857, died July 2, 1857. 3. Herbert Mason, born December 6, 1858, died May 30, 1859. Edward Mason Lyinan married ( second) June 9, 1868, Eliza M. Bayliss Hopkins, daughter of John and Ann (Fisher) Bayliss, of Birmingham, Eng- land, a well known family of manufacturers of military and sporting arms and supplies. Children : 4. Alice May, married Nelson L. Elmer and they had two children. 5. Albert Edward, married Valborg Erichsen and they had three children.


(For preceding generations see John Hawks or Hawkes 1).


(V) Jared, third son of Joshua HAWKS and Abigail ( Hastings ) Hawkes, is claimed by tradition to have been born at Fort Pelham, March 27, 1752. He was baptized October 8, 1752, died Decem- ber 14, 1828, at Charlemont. Sheldon's "His- tory of Deerfield" says he married Hannah, daughter of Nehemiah May. A sketch pub- lished by Herbert V. and Martha O. ( Hawks) Bullock, states that he married. September 16, 1773. Elizabeth Fales, who died January I, 1830. They had eleven children : Jared, Cal- vin B., Eleazer, Boswell, James, Erastus, Horace, Elizabeth, Ruth, Sylvia and Harvey.


(VI) Calvin B. Hawks (as he spelled the name), second son of Jared and Elizabeth (Fales) Hawkes, was born in Charlemont, March 18, 1784, died in Shelbourne Falls, Jan- uary 24, 1874. He was engaged in farming and lived at Buckland. He married (first) February 26, 1811, Clarissa Butler, born July 24, 1789. died November 3, 1819, daughter of Athearn and Desire ( Allen) Butler ; (second) Cordelia, sister of his first wife, September 28, 1820. She was born December 12, 1803, died December 15, 1842. Clarissa and Cor- delia Butler were descendants as follows:


(I) Nicholas Butler, of Dorchester, Massa- chusetts, came with his wife Joyce, three chil- dren and five servants from Eastwell, in the county of Kent, England, in 1636, as is shown by the records of the custom house at Sand- wich, England. He was a freeman March 14. 1639, and removed to Martha's Vineyard, 1651.


(II) John, son of Nicholas and Joyce But- ler, possibly baptized September 22, 1645, died July, 1658. He married Mary, surname not known, and left four sons from whom are descended all the Butlers of Martha's Vine- yard.


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(III) John (2), son of John (1) and Mary Butler, married Priscilla Norton. They had a son Samuel and others.


(IV) Samuel, son of John (2) and Pris- cilla (Norton) Butler, lived on the Vineyard and had a family.


(V) Samuel (2), son of Samuel ( I) Butler, was born in Edgartown, December 25, 1727, died in Providence, Rhode Island, June 29, 1814. He married Mary Athearn, born Sep- tember 16, 1731, died in Providence, January, 1819, aged eighty-eight. She was the daughter of Jethro and Mary Athearn.


(VI) Athearn, son of Samuel (2) and Mary ( Athearn ) Butler, was born on Martha's Vine- yard, July 21, 1763, died May 6, 1814. He married, October 2, 1788, Desire Allen, born in Martha's Vineyard, November 7, 1767, died January 13, 1843, at Williamsburg, to which placc they had removed. They had seven chil- dren : Clarissa, Sophia, Desire, Cordelia, Mary Ann and Caroline.


The children of Calvin B. and Clarissa ( Butler ) Hawks were: I. Athearn Butler, born March 30, 1815, moved to Americus, Georgia, and died there December 13, 1864, leaving a widow and three sons. 2. Elizabeth Fales, born in Charlemont, February 12, 1817, died in Buckland, June 6, 1830; married Will- iam Stearns, September 26, 1842. He died in 1845. A daughter born to them at Williams- burg, June 8, 1843, named Cynthia Cordelia, died in Northampton, July 8, 1906. To Calvin B. and Cordelia (Butler) Hawks were born two sons, Theron H. and Sereno Dwight.


( VII) Theron Holbrook, son of Calvin B. and Cordelia (Butler) Hawks, was born in Charlemont, October 24, 1821. He was edu- cated in a private school at Buckland and at Williams College, graduating from the latter institution with the degree of A. B. with the class of 1844, and as valedictorian. After- graduation he assumed teaching and taught in Baltimore, Maryland, 1845-47: New York City, 1847-48, and then became a student at the Union Theological School in the years 1848- 51. He was instructor in Spingler Institution, New York City, 1849-54. From 1851 till 1854 he was an instructor at Union Seminary ; March 7, 1855, he was ordained pastor of the Congregational church at West Springfield and preached there from 1855 to 1861. Subse- quently he accepted a call and became pastor in Cleveland, Ohio, of Second Presbyterian Church, 1861-68, and later in Marietta, Ohio,


of First Congregational Church, from 1869 to 1883. Returning to Massachusetts, he was in- structor in the School for Christian Workers at Springfield from 1885 to 1895, and in the latter year filled a similar position in the Bible Normal College, a reorganization of the former, and in 1885-86 in the Hartford Theo- logical Seminary. He was a member of the school committee of West Springfield, 1855- 61 ; trustee of Mount Holyoke College, 1858- 61 ; of Western Reserve College, 1865-69 ; cor- porate member of American Board Commis- sioners Foreign Missions, 1871-91, and mod- erator of the Ohio Congregational Conference, 1870. He was a member of the American Institute of Civics, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, and was made D. D. by Williams College in 1864. He retired in 1900 from teaching, full of years and honors, enjoying the rest to which a busy life profitably spent entitles him. He married, June 5, 1855, Mary Oakes Hoadley, born in New York City, November 17, 1830, daughter of David Hoadley, president of the American Exchange Bank, and later of the Panama rail- road. Her mother was Mary (Hotchkiss) Hoadley. They had five children: 1. Mary Hoadley, born at West Springfield, May 12, 1856, married Oscar Howard Mitchell, pro- fcssor of mathematics in Marietta College, who was born October 4, 1851, died March 29, 1889. 2. Winthrop Butler, born April 13, 1858, in West Springfield, died in Colorado Springs, March 24, 1885. He graduated A. B. from Marietta College in 1878, and attended Yale Seminary, 1879-1883. 3. Elizabeth Sprague, born in West Springfield, October 15, 1859, lives in Springfield. 4. Theron Hol- brook, born February 1, 1862, at Cleveland, Ohio, received the degree of A. B. from Mari- etta College in 1882. He is now in business in Duluth, Minnesota. He married Florence L. Curtis, daughter of R. L. Curtis, of Mari- ctta, Ohio. She was born January 25, 1866. Children: Russell Curtis, born September 14, 1889, died August 10, 1890, at Duluth ; Theron H., born September 10, 1892; Rollin Curtis, born May 2, 1895, both at Duluth. 5. Eleanor Russell, born in Cleveland, Ohio, November 8, 1865, married, January 14, 1891, William G. Schauffler, M. D. ; she died December 23, 1891, at Beirut, Syria, leaving one son, William G., born November 24, 1891. Rev. Theron H. Hawks died at his home in Springfield, No- vember 19, 1908, having just passed his eighty- seventh birthday.


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ELLIS This Welsh name is derived from "Aleck's," the possessive form adopted in many names of similar origin. Instead of saying William's David, the Welsh used the expression, "David, William's," and this usage gave rise to such names as Evans, Jones (John's), Edwards, Harris (Harry's), and so through the long category. Many immi- grants of the name are found of early record in New England, the first being among the Puritans of Plymouth. Another family springs from Dedham, and both sent out a large pro- geny. The arrival of the family herein traced dates at a later period, but it is identified by marriage with many of the oldest New Eng- land families.


(I) The first ancestor in this country was Richard Ellis, the son of a Welshman who served as an officer in the British army. Rich- ard was born in Dublin, Ireland, August 16, 1704, and spent the first thirteen years of his life in the various posts of that island, as the location of the military forces changed. His father having died, his mother bought his cabin passage to Virginia, where she expected he would find a home with an uncle resident there. The captain of the vessel in which he sailed was none too honest, and upon landing at a Masachusetts port sold the boy's time till of age, according to a custom of those days, claiming that he was a pauper. At Easton, Bristol county, Massachusetts, in 1728, Rich- ard Ellis married Jane, daughter of Captain John Phillips, a soldier of the expedition against Quebec, in 1690, and in 1740 Richard Ellis removed from Easton to Deerfield, Mass- achusetts, and shortly afterward began clear- ing, and erected a log cabin in Ashfield (then called Huntstown), whither he took his family in 1745. This constituted the first settlement of that town, where a handsome monument has been erected by his descendants. He died there in his ninety-fourth year, and left a large posterity, none of whom have lived in that town for more than half a century. Eight of his nine children grew to maturity and reared large families. His youngest son, Caleb, set- tled at Ellisburg, Jefferson county, New York, and a grandson, Richard, settled a place bear- ing the same name in Potter county, Pennsyl- vania. Several thousand of his descendants are known to be now living, and many of them have been pioneers of New York, Pennsyl- vania. Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and all over the northwestern states, reaching to Oregon . and Texas. Many were soldiers in the revolu- tionary war.


(II) Reuben, eldest child of Richard and Jane ( Phillips) Ellis, born November 5, 1728, in Easton, lived at Ashfield, Massachusetts. He married, June 4, 1749, in Sunderland, Mehit- able, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Scott, early settlers of Sunderland. They became parents of seven children.


(III) Deacon David, youngest son of Reu- ben and Mehitable (Scott) Ellis, was born January 30, 1763, and removed from Ashfield to Springfield, Erie county, Pennsylvania, in 1818; with him went his two sons, David and William. Deacon David Ellis was an ardent Baptist, and served many years as deacon in the church, sometimes taking the pulpit in the absence of a regular pastor. His Sabbath always began at sunset Saturday night, at which time all the farm work must be stopped until Monday. He married Sarah, daughter of Deacon Samuel Washburn, a prominent pioneer citizen of Ashfield. She was a woman of unusual refinement and, like her husband, an ardent Baptist. Many interesting incidents in the lives of these people may be found in the Ellis Genealogy, a volume of four hundred eighty-three pages, published by Dr. E. R. Ellis, of Detroit, Michigan.


(IV) William, oldest son of Deacon David and Sarah (Washburn) Ellis, was born in Ashfield, March 28, 1787. He and his brother David were noted for their skill in martial music, and were active members of the Penn- sylvania militia. Their father served through the revolution, and after the close of the struggle was a lieutenant in the Massachu- setts militia. William Ellis married Rhoda, daughter of Captain Lamrock, granddaughter of Major Lamrock Flower, prominent among the early settlers of Ashfield. She was born in Ashfield, September 27, 1789, and died Au- gust 26, 1864. William Ellis and his wife were both pious and devoted Baptists. They had ten children, nine of whom reached matur- ity and seven reared families. William Ellis died May 13, 1873.


(V) Charles Perkins, second child of Will- iam and Rhoda (Flower) Ellis, was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, March 20, 1812, and was six years old when his parents removed from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania. At the age of eight years he was accustomed to take a light axe, provided for that purpose, and go regularly to the woods to assist in clearing up the farm. Springfield was a heavily wooded township, along the shore of Lake Erie, and afforded few educational advantages; the set- tlers were poor, and the free school system


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was not adopted in that state until 1840. For three months in the year a school was main- tained in a log school house, with slabs for seats and desks, light being admitted at the windows through greased paper. The prin- cipal qualification exacted of the teacher was ability to properly flog the larger boys.


On reaching manhood, C. P. Ellis found em- ployment in the lumber region, along French creek, one of the principal tributaries of the Allegheny river, and continued to work for several winters at logging, going down the rivers to the mouth of the Ohio with rafts in the spring. After leaving the raft he made his way northward through Indiana and Mich- igan, working on the farms along the way as the season advanced, and put in several autumns at carpenter work in Michigan. He acquired eighty acres of fine timber and prairie land in Cass county, Michigan, which he sub- sequently traded for property, including a team of horses and a wagon, with which he made the trip from Pennsylvania to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1842. At this time La- Grange, where he located, was peopled by about a dozen families, and those several miles away; even people in adjoining townships were considered neighbors, and Indians were numerous not far away. Here the last thirty- nine years of his life were spent. He secured one hundred twenty acres, and at first made his home in a log cabin on the northeast corner of Section 21; this was replaced by a frame building in 1848, which in turn gave place to a larger and more pretentious dwelling, on the same site. For several years the second struc- ture served as a hotel, until the construction of a railroad six miles north diverted the line of travel. The wayfarer was never turned away, and this was considered the home of any passing clergyman, whatever his creed. December 15, 1839, Mr. Ellis married Sarah Harris, who was born May 11, 1816, in Hen- derson, Jefferson county, New York, and died January 7, 1894, at her home in LaGrange, Wisconsin, in her seventy-eighth year. She was a daughter of Jeremiah and Priscilla (Cole) Harris, who settled in Springfield, Pennsylvania, in 1824. The father of Jere- miah Harris was Anthony Harris, born June 5. 1736, in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and a pioneer settler in Richmond, New Hampshire, where Jeremiah was born May 8, 1768. Anth- ony was a son of Richard (2), son of Richard (1), mentioned elsewhere in this work. Pris- cilla Cole was a daughter of Barnabas Cole, who was born in Chatham, Massachusetts,


and is supposed to have been a descendant of Isaac Cole, who was born in Sandwich, county Kent, England, and settled in Massachusetts, in March, 1634. Anthony Harris was a brother of Mercy Ballou, wife of Rev. Maturin and mother of Rev. Hosea Ballou, one of the pioneers of Universalism in New England.


While Mrs. Ellis had received but a limited education in the primitive schools of western Pennsylvania, she was an eager reader, and secured a large fund of general information. She lived in a realm above petty gossip, and though her life was a somewhat narrow one, her mind was not. She never complained of her privations and disadvantages, but patiently devoted herself to her home, her husband and children. A daughter and two sons survived her-Priscilla R., James A. and Charles E. The daughter is Mrs. John E. Menzie, of La- Grange. They revere her memory as that of a sincere Christian, whose life is an inspira- tion to noble thoughts and the patient, faith- ful performance of every duty that may come before them. The following words from the pen of one of her neighbors appeared in a local journal: "Charitably disposed, of a medi- tative nature, she was one of those persons who if they have troubles never trouble others with a recital of them, and of whom it may be truly said the world is better for their hav- ing lived in it. She early discarded the doc- trine of eternal punishment for the beautiful sentiment that 'The ways of man are narrow, but the gates of heaven are wide.' As she lived, so she died. Quietly, under the lengthen- ing shadows and into the purple twilight she crossed the dark river, to the friends on the other side, leaving to those that follow the noble legacy of a long life well spent."


Mr. Ellis was reared under strict Baptist teachings, and was often cautioned by his grandmother, Sarah Washburn Ellis, against the danger of Universalism, but from the age of thirty years he steadfastly adhered to the latter faith. He was an active supporter of religious services, and for many years the only churches in LaGrange were owned by Meth- odists. It was partly through his influence and efforts that the church near his home, which was begun by the Methodist denomina- tion and remained for many years in a partially completed state, was jointly finished and dedi- cated by the Methodists and Universalists of the neighborhood, not as a union church, but free to all Christian denominations. From early manhood he was an advocate of human




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