Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III, Part 25

Author: Green, Samuel A. (Samuel Abbott), 1830-1918
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Groton
Number of Pages: 1026


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III > Part 25


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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



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school of law in Groton to the school of politics in Bath," says Mr. Willis, in his " History of the Law, the Courts, and the Lawyers of Maine " (page 501). In 1807 he was appointed by Governor Sullivan as attorney for Lincoln County, and in 1811 by Governor Gerry a Judge of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas. In 1820 he was chosen to the first Legislature of Maine, and made the Speaker of the House, a position to which he was re-elected for the three following years. In 1824 he was chosen a Senator from Lincoln County, and made the President of the body ; and in 1827 again chosen to the House, which was his last appearance in public life. From 1827 to 1829 he had an office in Cincinnati, Ohio, and on one of his trips to the East he was stricken down by paralysis in Providence, Rhode Island, from which both his mind and body suffered. He was then taken to the home of a brother-in-law at Houlton, Maine, where he died on September 28, 1835.


In April, 1809, Judge Ames was married at Andover, first, to Mary, daughter of Colonel Abel and Polly (Abbott) Boynton, of Westford, who died at Bath, on November 3, ISIO; and on May 11, 1812, at Bath, secondly, to Sally, a sister of his first wife. By the first marriage there was no issue, but by the second there were three children, a son and two daughters.


WILLIAM AMORY was a son of Thomas Coffin and Hannah Rowe (Linzee) Amory, and born in Boston, on June 15, 1804. He pursued his preparatory studies at a boarding-school kept by Jacob Newman Knapp, first at Brighton and afterward at Jamaica Plain, and entered Harvard College as a member of the Class which was to graduate in 1823. His name appears in the four annual catalogues, but during his Senior year the class became involved in some difficulty with the college authorities, which resulted in the expulsion of more than one half of their number, and Mr. Amory was among them. At different times since this " Rebellion," as it is now called, thirty of these expelled members have received their degrees, and their names appear in the Quinquennial Catalogue. Mr. Amory took his first and second degrees in the year 1845.


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Early in the winter of 1823-1824 he entered the office of the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, where he re- mained for five months, studying law ; and he has since writ- ten a charming account of his " Reminiscences of Groton during the years 1823 and 1824," which is printed in the first number of Volume I. of the Groton Historical Series. In 1825 he went to Europe, where he passed five years in study and travel, and on his return resumed his professional studies in the office of Franklin Dexter and William Howard Gardiner, Esquires, who were associated together as counsellors in Boston. He was admitted to the Suffolk bar in October, 1830, though he never intended to practise as a lawyer. While leading the life of a scholar and cultivated gentleman, he was connected with several large corporations, either as President or Treasurer. fle died at his residence in Beacon Street, Boston, on December 9, 1888.


On January 17, 1833, Mr. Amory was married to Anna Powell Grant, eldest daughter of the Honorable David and Miriam Clark (Mason) Sears, of Boston.


LOAMMI BALDWIN was the third son and fourth child of Loammi and Mary (Fowle) Baldwin, and born at Woburn, on May 16, 1780. He fitted for college at Westford Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1800. On leaving Cambridge he entered the office of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, of Groton, for the study of law, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in September, 1803. During the next year he established himself as a lawyer in Cambridge ; but the pursuit of his profession was never congenial to his tastes. At the end of three years he gave up his chosen call- ing, and began the study of civil engineering, for which he had a remarkable aptitude, still keeping his residence in Cambridge. At an early age his fondness for the mechanical arts was very marked, and even while in college, with his own hands, he made a clock, which kept excellent time, and was the wonder of his classmates ; and while at Groton he constructed for the town a fire-engine, which is still in active nse. From an unsuccess- ful lawyer he became a distinguished engineer, whose work


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for the United States Government at various places is a last- ing monument to his professional skill. In 1835 he was a member of the Executive Council, and in 1836 a Presiden- tial Elector on the Whig ticket, when the Electoral vote of Massachusetts was cast, on December 7, for . Daniel Webster. He died at Charlestown, on June 30, 1838.


On May 19, 1816, Mr. Baldwin was married in Boston, first, to Ann, daughter of George and Lydia (Pickering) Williams, of that city, who died on April 22, 1821; and on June 22, 1828, in Charlestown, secondly, to Mrs. Catharine (Williams) Beckford (daughter of Samuel Williams, an American banker living in London, and widow of Captain Thomas Beckford), who died at Charlestown, on May 3, 1864.


FRANCIS BASSETT was a son of William and Betsey (Howes) Bassett, and born in that part of Yarmouth now Dennis, on Sep- tember 9, 1786. He fitted for college at Sandwich Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1810. He studied law in the office of the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, and afterward in the office of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, at Boston, and was admitted in Boston to the Court of Common Pleas, on September 28, 1813, and to the Supreme Judicial Court, on March 6, 1816. He was chosen a member of the General Court in 1818, 1819, and 1820, and again in 1824, 1828, and 1829; and he was a member of the Board of Over- seers of Harvard College from 1853 to 1863. In 1830 he was appointed Clerk of the United States Circuit Court for the Second Circuit, and of the United States District Court of Massachusetts. In 1845, having acquired a handsome com- petence, he resigned the clerkship and went to Europe. After his return he led a life of elegant case, enjoying the best fruits of a cultivated taste and a fondness for literature. An inter- esting letter, entitled " Reminiscences of an Octogenarian," and written by him, is given in " The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register " (XXV. 370-375) for October, 1871. He died at his winter residence in Boston, on May 25, 1875.


On December 8, 1858, Mr. Bassett was married to Mrs. Frances (Cutter) Langdon, daughter of Jacob and Miriam


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(Cross) Cutter, and widow of Woodbury Langdon, of Ports- mouth, New Hampshire.


ABIJAH BIGELOW was a son of Elisha and Sarah (Goodrich) Bigelow, and born at Westminster, on December 5, 1775. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the Class of 1795, and read law in the office of the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton, and the Honorable Samuel Dexter, of Boston. In 1798 he began the practice of his profession at Leominster, where he lived for nineteen years. He was town-clerk for five years, and a rep- resentative to the General Court during the sessions of 1807, ISOS, and 1809; and on November 5, 1810, he was chosen a member of the Twelfth Congress of the United States, where he served two terms. In 1817 he removed to Worcester, and from that time to the year 1834 he was Clerk of the Courts for Worcester County; and in 1838 he was appointed a Master in Chancery for that county. Ilis death took place in Worcester, on April 5, 1860.


On April 8, 1804, Mr. Bigelow was married to Hannah, daughter of the Reverend Francis and Sarah (Gibson) Gard- ner, of Leominster; and they had a family of nine children. Mrs. Bigelow died on August 21, 1857, aged 76 years and 10 months.


TYLER BIGELOW was the youngest child of David and Deb- orah (Heywood) Bigelow, and born at Worcester, on August 13, 1778. He graduated with high rank at Harvard College in the Class of 1801, and studied law with his cousin, the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, of Groton. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in June, 1804, and began the practice of his profession at Leominster, but a few months later removed to Watertown, where he took high rank at the bar. He soon became one of the leading citizens of the town, but owing to increasing deafness was obliged to give up much of his busi- ness. His cheerfulness, however, never failed ; and to those who knew him intimately, he was always an agreeable friend and companion. He died at Watertown, on May 23, 1865.


On November 23, 1806, Mr. Bigelow was married at Groton,



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first, to his cousin Clarissa, youngest child of Colonel Timothy and Anna (Andrews) Bigelow, of Worcester, who died on March 1, 1846; and on December 15, 1847, secondly, to Mrs. Harriet (Lincoln) Whitney, daughter of Abraham and Nancy (Bigelow) Lincoln, of Worcester, and widow of Francis Whit- ney, of New York. She died at Watertown, on June 20, 1853, aged 62 years, I month, and 22 days. The late Honorable George Tyler Bigelow, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, was a son by the first marriage.


JOHN PARKER BULLARD was a son of John and Sarah (Par- ker) Bullard, and born at Pepperell, on November 30, 1809. He attended school at Groton Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the famous Class of 1829. He studied law in the office of George F. Farley, Esq., of Groton, and afterward attended the Harvard Law School, where he passed four terms (two in 1833, one in 1834, and the last in 1835), and received the degree of LL.B. in 1836. He settled at Clinton, Louisiana, where he died on January 29, 1845.


On August 19, 1839, Mr. Bullard was married to Lucy Forbes, daughter of Lincoln and Lucy (Forbes) Brigham, previously of Cambridge. The marriage took place at Han- over, New Hampshire, according to the " Boston Daily Adver- tiser," August 24 of that year, where the announcement says that the groom was of St. Francisville, Louisiana, and the bride of Brooklyn, New York.


ROYAL BULLARD was the second son of the Reverend John and Elizabeth (Adams) Bullard, and born at Pepperell, on May 15, 1786. He pursued his preparatory studies at Groton Academy, and graduated in the Class of 1810, at Yale College, where he took the degree of A M. in course. He studied law in the office of the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar in September, 1813; and afterward in the office of Judge Blanding, of Camden, South Carolina, and was admitted to the bar in Kershaw District, as it was then called, but now known as Kershaw County, where he soon gained considerable reputation as


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a lawyer. After experiencing a change of heart, and be- coming a Christian, he felt it to be his duty to give up the profession of law and become a preacher of the Gospel, which he did in connection with the Methodist denomina- tion. About the year 1833 he removed from Camden to what was then the far West, and established himself on Fox River, near Newark, Kendall County, Illinois. Here, besides acting as a local preacher, he performed much mis- sionary labor, and with his own hands built a school-house, where during the winter season he gave gratuitous instruc- tion to all who availed themselves of his kind offer. He also took a deep interest in agricultural pursuits, for which he had a natural fondness, and in many other ways did much to improve the condition of his neighbors. He died at his farm, near Newark, on December 13, 1846.


On October 25, 1820, Mr. Bullard was married to Esther Lewis Murray, who was born at Camden, South Carolina, on November 5, 1800; and they had eight children.


CHARLES BUTTERFIELD was a son of Captain Asa and Abiah (Colburn) Butterfield, and born at Tyngsborough, on December 21, 1795. He was fitted for college at Westford Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1820. Ile was one of four members of that class who, in 1818, established the " Med. Fac. Society," an association in former years somewhat noted. He studied law, first, under the tuition of the Honorable Daniel Richardson, of Tyngs- borough, and then of the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton. After his admission to the bar, he opened an office at Tyngsborough, but after a few years gave up the profession and devoted himself to farming. In 1834 and 1835 he was sent from that town as a representative to the General Court. In 1857 he was appointed Librarian of the Middlesex Me- chanic Association at Lowell, where he then took up his resi- dence, but not for a long time. In the early part of 1858 he was taken down with a disease of the heart, which proved fatal some months later. He died, unmarried, at his former home in Tyngsborough, on July 26, 1858.


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WILLIAM CROSBY was the third child of Hezekiah and Lucy (Kittredge) Crosby, and born at Billerica, on June 3, 1770. He was a younger brother of the wife of Major James Lewis, of Groton. At the early age of seven years, while playing about a cider-mill in operation, his right arm was caught in the machinery, and so crushed as to cripple it for life. This accident disqualified him for manual labor, and he was obliged ever after to write with his left hand, but it turned his attention toward a liberal education. He gradu- ated at Harvard College in the Class of 1794 ; and soon after leaving Cambridge, as a law student he entered the office of William Gordon, Esq., of Amherst, New Hampshire, but finished his studies in the office of the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in 1798, and at once opened an office at Billerica, where he re- mained for three years. During the summer of 1801 he made a tour of observation through various towns in the District of Maine, and finally selected Belfast as the most desirable place for a young lawyer. Here he settled on January 3, 1802, when there were less than a dozen framed houses in the village, besides a few log cabins, and not more than three hundred inhabitants in the whole township. He was the pioneer lawyer of a large tract of country, now dotted with flourishing towns. Soon afterward he was made County At- torney, a position which he held until October 8, 1811, when he received the appointment of Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for the Third Eastern Circuit, at that time comprising the counties of llancock and Washington, and afterward including the county of Penobscot. This office he filled until the year 1822, when the courts were re-organized, in consequence of the admission of the District of Maine as one of the States of the Union. While acting as Judge, on November 12, 1812, he was chosen a Presidential Elector, when the vote of the Commonwealth was thrown in favor of De Witt Clinton, the unsuccessful competitor of Madison for the Presidency ; and on April 3, 1815, he was elected a mem- ber of the Massachusetts Senate, where he served for one year. He died of paralysis at Belfast, on March 31, 1852, aged 81 years, 9 months, and 28 days.


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On October 12, 1804, Mr. Crosby was married to Sally, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Mann ) Davis, of Billerica. Ilis wife survived him, and died on November 1, 1877, at the advanced age of 94 years. The late William George Crosby, Governor of Maine in 1853-1854, was their eldest child.


JOSIAH DANFORTH was a son of Josiah and Sarah (Blodgett) Danforth, and born at Tyngsborough, on January 15, 1786. Hle pursued his preparatory studies under the instruction of Benjamin Stone,1 of Tyngsborough, and the Reverend IIum- phrey Moore, of Milford, New Hampshire, and at Chesterfield Academy. He graduated at Dartmouth College in the Class of 1811, - a class in which the town of Groton was so fully represented, - and immediately afterward began the study of law in the office of the Honorable William M. Richardson, of Groton. Here he remained for a while, and then entered the office of Daniel Richardson, Esq., in his native town ; and after his admission to the Middlesex bar in December, 1814, he began the practice of his profession at Litchfield, New Hamp- shire. In that town he lived for nine months, and then removed to Weare in the same State, where he practised law successfully for many years, enjoying the confidence of the neighborhood. During this period he held various town offices, and in the years 1823 and 1824 was chosen a member of the State Legislature. In 1851 he returned to his native town, where he ended his days on November 5, 1867.


On September 26, 1816, Mr. Danforth was married to Mary, daughter of John and Elizabeth Hunt (Smith) Farwell, of Tyngsborough ; and they had one child, James, who grad- uated at the Dartmouth Medical School in the Class of 1838. Mr. Danforth's widow died on December 21, 1870, at the age of 77 years.


CHARLES OCTAVIUS EMERSON was a son of Edward, Jr., and Nabby ( Lyman ) Emerson, and born at York, Maine, on


1 Benjamin Stone, a native of Shrewsbury, and a graduate of Harvard Col- lege in the Class of 1776, was engaged by the town of Tyngsborough, on Sep- lember 12, 1803, to teach the Grammar School. He had previously taught at Leicester Academy, where he was the first principal, and at Westford Academy.


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March 27, 1799. Ile fitted for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1818. After leaving Cambridge he began the study of law in the office of Jeremiah Bradbury, Esq., of York, where he passed one year ; and in October, 1819, entered the office of the Honorable Luther Lawrence, of Groton, where he re- mained two years. lle was admitted to the Middlesex bar in September, 1821, and then returned to his native town, where he practised his profession until his death. In 1827, 1828, and 1829 he was a member of the Maine House of Repre- sentatives. His life was happy and useful, and his Christian influence was always felt in the community where he lived. He died at York, on June 22, 1863.


On June 24, 1829, Mr. Emerson was married to Harriet Jane, daughter of Deacon John and Peggy (Spear) Phillips, of Portland, Maine ; and they had six children.


WILLARD HALL was the eldest child of Willis and Mchet- abel (Poole) Hall, and born at Westford, on December 24, 1780. He fitted for college at Westford Academy, and grad- uated at Harvard College in the Class of 1799. He studied law under the tuition of the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton, and after a three years' course of professional study, was admitted to the bar of Hillsborough County, New Hamp- shire, in March, 1803. Many years later, in recounting some of the incidents of this period of his life, he wrote : -


The offices of Mr. Bigelow and Mr. Dana were nurseries of law- yers. Mr. Bigelow was a man of great ability and elevated moral and religious character. His speaking was rapid -rapid to a fault ; but it was earnest, energetic, and full of matter. He filled the circle in which he moved ; but on the broad extent of his State and nation he never attained to the eminence that was his due. Personal idolatry, so rife now, was then unknown. Mr. Dana was a good lawyer, a graceful speaker, with a melodious voice, an inter- esting gentleman. He abounded with anecdote ; there could be no more entertaining companion (page 1.4).


" Memorial Address on the Life and Character of Willard Hall." By Hon. Daniel M. Bates. ( Wilmington, 1579.)


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Immediately after his admission to the bar Mr. Hall passed a short time at his father's house in Westford, and then, on April 7, 1803, set out for Wilmington, Delaware, where he arrived in nine days, travelling the whole distance on horse- back. During the following month of May he established himself at Dover in that State, and in due time became known as a man of legal learning and sound judgment. From the year I811 to 1814, and again in 1821, he was Secretary of the State; from 1817 to 1821 Representative in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Congresses of the United States ; and a mem- ber of the State Constitutional Convention in 1831. On May 6, 1823, he was appointed by President Monroe as Judge of the United States District Court in Delaware, a position which he held until December, 1871, through an exceptionally long period of forty-eight years. Soon after his appointment as Judge he removed from Dover to Wilmington, where he died on May 10, 1875, at the advanced age of 94 years, 4 months, and 16 days.


In 1806 Judge Hall was married, first, to Junia, youngest daughter of William and Rebecca (Alles) Killen, who died on September 19, 1824; and, secondly, in 1826, to Harriet, daughter of Charles and Mary (Killen) Hillyard. By the second marriage there were no children.


JOIN HARRIS was a son of Richard and Lydia (Atherton) Harris, and born at Harvard, on October 13, 1769. He grad- uated at Harvard College in the Class of 1791, and read law in the office of Simeon Strong, Esq., of Amherst, and later in the office of the Honorable Timothy Bigelow, of Groton. After his admission to the bar he went in 1794 to Hop- kinton, New Hampshire, where he entered upon the practice of his profession, and remained until his death. Besides fill- ing many town offices, he was, from the year 1812 to 1823, Judge of Probate for Hillsborough County; from 1823 to 1843, Judge of Probate for Merrimack County; from 1817 to 1823, Solicitor of Hillsborough County ; and from 1823 to 1833 Associate Justice of the Superior Court of Judicature. In 1820 he was one of a commission to revise the code of Pro-


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bate laws in New Hampshire. He had some distinction in militia service, and was also prominent in the Masonic frater- nity. He died at Hopkinton on April 23, 1845.


In September, 1799, Judge Harris was married to Mary, daughter of Eliphalet and Elizabeth (Little) Poor, of Hamp- stead, New Hampshire, who was born on February 10, 1779, and died on March 6, 1843, preceding him by about two years. They had four children, all now dead.


WALTER HASTINGS was the eldest child of Dr. Walter and Lucretia ( Bridge) Hastings, and born at Chelmsford, on De- cember 26, 1778. He pursued his preparatory studies prob- ably in his native town, and graduated at Harvard College in the Class of 1799. He bore the same name as his father and grandfather, who both were graduates of Harvard. After studying the profession of law in the office of the Honorable James Prescott, Jr., of Groton, he was admitted to the Middle- sex bar in March, 1803, and soon afterward settled at Townsend, where he was, in point of time, the first lawyer of the place. At the bar he maintained a respectable position, but his fond- ness for the militia was uppermost in his mind and outweighed all his other interests. Ilis residence was at Townsend Har- bor. In the year 1809 he was chosen to the captaincy of the North Company of Townsend, which office he continued to hold until 1812, when, war having broken out with England, he was commissioned, on July 8, as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Second Regiment, Second Brigade, Third Division of the Massachusetts Militia, and placed in command of his regiment in Boston Harbor; and on June 20, 1816, he was brevetted Colonel. At the end of the war he returned to Townsend Harbor, and resumed the practice of law. His death took place on June 6, 1821, and the next day he was buried with military honors. He is still remembered by the older citizens of Townsend as a man of elegant manners and dignified ' appearance.


On March 1, 1814, Colonel Hastings was married to Rox- ana, daughter of Moses and Martha ( Reed) Warren, of Town- send; and they had four children. The eldest child, Walter,


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Jr., who died in Boston, on October 28, 1879, was a large benefactor of Harvard College, where there is now a Walter Hastings Ilall named for him. Colonel Hastings's widow afterward married Elisha Glidden, Esq., a lawyer of Lowell.


The following obituary notice is found in the " Columbian Centinel " (Boston), June 13, 1821 : -


In Townsend, on the 6th inst. Walter Hastings Esq. Counsellor at Law, aged 42, late Lieut .- Colonel of the Militia, and interred on the 7th. The funeral procession was preceded by a numerous mili- tary escort, who voluntarily assembled to unite their solemn honors , . with the civic rites on the occasion.


THOMAS HOPKINSON was a son of Theophilus and Susanna (Allen) Hopkinson, and born at New Sharon, Maine, on August 25, 1804. He pursued his preparatory studies at Farmington Academy, and graduated at Harvard College with the highest honors in the Class of 1830. After leaving Cam- bridge, he entered the office of the Honorable Samuel Dana, of Groton, as a law student, where he remained a short time, and then continued his studies in the office of the Hon- orable Luther Lawrence, of Groton. He was admitted to the Middlesex bar in June, 1833, and began the practice of law in the new manufacturing town of Lowell, where he became the partner of his former instructor, Mr. Lawrence, who had pre- viously removed there. In his profession he soon rose to an eminent rank, and was widely known as an able lawyer and a wise counsellor. On November 13, 1837, he was chosen a member of the General Court, and on November 11, 1844, for a second term ; and on January 9, 1846, in joint conven- tion of the branches of the Legislature, he was elected a member of the State Senate. He was a delegate from Bos- ton to the Convention in 1853 for revising the State Consti- tution. On October 13, 1848, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, but on August i of the follow- ing year resigned his seat on the bench, as he had been chosen president of the Boston and Worcester Railroad Cor- poration. When he entered upon the duties of this office as president, he removed to Boston, where he lived until the




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