USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II > Part 35
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Rev. Samuel Kendall, of Woburn, a Harvard graduate, was the first settled minister, and was ordained December, 1742, at which time the church was probably organized. Ile served the church as its pastor until March, 1776, when he resigned his charge, but continued to reside in New Salem until his death, in 1792. Mr. Kendall's successor was Rev. Joel Foster, who was settled June, 1779, and preached twenty-three years, being dismissed in 1802. During his ministration, in 1788, a church society was organized distinct from the town organiza- tion, and church affairs prospered after the new departure. In 1794 a new church of considerable pretensions to architectural elegance was built, and considered one of the finest, if not the best, of all the churches in Hampshire County.
Mr. Foster was a divine of some prominence, and it was said that the incorporation of the New Salem Academy was due chiefly to his efforts. His successor as pastor of the church was Rev. Warren Pierce, who was ordained in 1804. He re- signed in 1807, and in December of that year Rev. Alpheus Harding was ordained. Shortly previous to that time a church
was erected in the north, about four miles from the centre, near where Beriah W. Fay lives, for the accommodation of the people in that section, and at this chureh Mr. Harding preached fifteen Sabbaths annually for about eighteen years. Meanwhile, for about that length of time, the church parish was somewhat divided on the question of the relative merits of the Trinitarian and Unitarian doctrines. Mr. Harding inclined to Unitarianism, and preached its faith to the First Church until January, 1845, when he resigned, after a min- istry of upward of thirty-seven years. Mr. Harding officiated in 1868 at the funeral in New Salem of Mrs. Daniel Shaw, at whose wedding he had likewise officiated in 1811. Rev. Clau- dius Bradford, ordained in 1851, was the next settled minister but he continued only two years, when he resigned. Rev. - Trask, the last settled pastor, was dismissed in 1874, since which date the church, which is now Universalist, has de- pended upon periodical supplies.
As has already been noted, Mr. Harding preached a portion of each year at a church in the north for eighteen years,- from 1807 to 1824. This church building was owned by the First Society, and when the people, in 1824, hecoming dissat- isfied with the condition of things, formed a new and ortho- dox society, they purchased the church building and removed it to its present location, in north New Salem. Since 1842 there has been no settled pastor, and latterly the building has been used in common by Congregationalists and Methodists. The first pastor was Levi French, who preached from 1825 to 1829, and succeeding him was Rev. Erastus Brooks, who preached from 1834 to 1842.
The THIRD CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH was organized at New Salem Centre in August, 1845. Services were held in the town-house until 1855, when the present church structure was erected. The pastors have been Revs. Wm. H. Hayward, Erastus Curtis, W. Kemp, David Eastman, and Samuel H. Amsdell,-the latter the pastor in charge January, 1879.
In January, 1772, a BAPTIST CHURCH was organized in the south part of the town, and in that year a meeting-house was built, a little south of what is now the Prescott line. In 1800 the building was moved three miles north of its original location, and in 1822, when the town of Prescott was incorpo- rated, the church became known as the Baptist Church of New Salem and Prescott. The church building was taken down in 1835, and in that year a new structure was erected directly upon the line between Prescott and New Salem.
The church began to decline a few years ago, and previous to 1878 became extinct. In that year the building was sold and removed into Prescott, where it is now used as a store. Among the early pastors of the church were Revs. Ebenezer Smith, Samuel Bigelow, Joel Butler, Josiah Oreutt, Paul Davis, Calvin Orcutt, Asa Niles, Stephen S. Nelson, Thos. Rand, - Dwyer, George Doland, John Shepardson, A. B. Eggleston.
There is a METHODIST CHURCH building within the borders of New Salem, near the Prescott line, but it belongs to the Methodist Society of North Prescott, with whom the Meth- odists of New Salem worship.
The UNIVERSALISTS in the north part of the town organ- ized a society in 1800, and erected a meeting-house frame, but got no farther with the building. It stood thus uncovered for several years, when it was sold and removed to New Salem Centre, where it was converted into a tavern, and destroyed by fire in 1876.
In January, 1879, measures were on foot at the village of Cooleyville for the organization of a Universalist society at that point, with a fair prospect of success.
SCHOOLS. THE NEW SALEM ACADEMY.
The early records of the town having been destroyed, very little can be ascertained about the early history of New Salem
.
670
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
schools; but it is safe to assume that here, in common with the towns in Western Massachusetts, the growth of the canse of education developed slowly in the days of the pioneers.
Public concern touching the necessity and value of schools was awakened directly upon the settlement of the territory, and such provision as could be made with the limited advan- tages at command was attended to.
In 1794 the subject of providing the town with a school possessed of superior advantages began to be actively discussed, and to such good end that a number of enterprising citizens erected a commodious school building at the Centre, and Feb. 25, 1795, the NEW SALEM ACADEMY was incorporated under
The State granted half a township of land in Maine in 1797 for the benefit of the school. This land was placed in market by the trustees, and was purchased to a large extent by citizens of New Salem, in order to assist, by every means in their power, the incipient institution. This course eventually in- volved them to such an extent that many were obliged to give up their homes in Massachusetts and remove to the wild lands of Maine. Among these was Capt. James Houlton, after whom the town of Houlton, in Maine, was named.
By the running of a new boundary-line between the United States and the British dominions the institution lost about one-half the original grant.
WIRDDUE
NEW SALEM ACADEMY AND BOARDING-HOUSES, NEW SALEM, MASS.
an act which set forth that the school was to be " for the pur- pose of promoting piety, religion, and morality, and for the instruction of the youth in such languages and in such of the liberal arts and sciences as the trustees shall direct."* The trustees then appointed were Rev. Joel Foster, Rev. Solomon Reed, Rev. Joseph Blodgett, Rev. Joseph Kilburn, David Smead, John Goldsbury, Jonathan Warner, David Sexton, Ebenezer Mattoon, Jr., Daniel Bigelow, Martin Kinsley, Ezekiel Kellogg, Jr., Samuel Kendall, Varney Pearce, and Asa Meriam.
Among the members who were active in procuring the charter were Rev. Joel Foster, Deacon Samuel Kendall, Ezekiel Kellogg, Jr., and Varney Pearce. The first record is in the handwriting of Rev. Joel Foster. The next seere- tary was Varney Pearce, Esq., who, with the exception of an interval of two years,-1810-11,-attended every meeting of the board of trustees from the organization to the time of his death, in 1823.
* The following curious action appears of record under date of August 18, 1796: " Voted that the trustees do recommend to the young gentlemen who study at New Salem Academy, that they abstain from wearing gowns." At the same date the following : " Voted that this board do now adjourn to 5 o'clock to- morrow morning."
The school building, already mentioned, was donated to the academy, and at the first meeting of the trustees, which was held at the tavern of Samuel Kendall, in New Salem, measures were taken to set the institution upon an advanced plane, and thereby attract to its support pupils from all parts of the State.
This liberal and comprehensive scheme bore immediate fruit, and the school entered at once upon a prosperous career, gath- ering within its walls many students from the State at large and from other States; occupied an enlarged field of useful- ness, and took a prominent place among the institutions of learning of that day.
In 1837 the academy building was destroyed by fire, but was promptly replaced by the present edifice, mainly erected from funds contributed by citizens of the town. In 1870 the academy received from the State a donation of $10,000, from the citizens of New Salem $5000, and from Ira Stratton, Esq., of Cambridgeport, a native of New Salem, $1000. The valu- able scientific apparatus now in the possession of the school was the gift of Mr. Greenwood, of Boston, a former pupil. In the year named (1870) the trustees erected near the academy a handsome and spacious boarding-house, at a cost of $4000. This structure, as well as one of a similar character built many years before, provides homes for the academy students.
671
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.
The free introduction of high schools and the increase of educational advantages elsewhere have of late somewhat nar- rowed the field of the academy's usefulness, but it still holds a high rank, and annually prepares many students for col- lege.
The value of the property belonging to the institution, in- cluding fund and buildings, is about $16,000. The south building at the right and rear in the wood-cut is used as a boarding-house, and is in charge of a steward. The central building contains rooms for those who desire to board them- selves, and is in charge of the principal.
The principals who have served the academy from its incor- poration, in 1795, to 1879, given in regular order, are thus named : Fowler Dickinson, Proctor Pierce, Joel Foster, Jo- seph Billings, Alvah Tobey, David Kendall, Warren Pierce, William Ritchie, Alpheus Harding, Oliver Greene, John Wallace, Joel Wright, Leonard Jewett, Phineas Johnson, Oliver Fletcher, Allen Gannett, Constant Field, Joseph An- derson, Charles Osgood, Alonzo Andrews, Luther Wilson, J. M. Macomber, Horace Blake, John Stacey, Gardner Rice, V. M. Howard, Charles Whittier, T. W. R. Marsh, Joseph A. Shaw, Andrew J. Lathrop, llenry M. Harrington, D. G. Thompson, E. A. Perry, F. F. Foster, Lorenzo White, F. E. Stratton, and William H. Smiley, the latter being the princi- pal in charge April 1, 1879.
The trustees in 1879 were Lyman E. Moore, of New Salem; T. D. Brooks, of Athol; Willard Putnam, William T. Free- man, and F. A. Haskell, of New Salem; N. L. Johnson, of Dana ; J. B. Root, of Greenwich ; Thomas P. Root, of Barre ; Alphens Harding, of Athol; George A. Berry, of Shntesbury ; A. J. Clark, of Orange; Lucien D. Trow, of Hardwick ; and Edward F. Mayo, of Warwick. Among the prominent trus- tees not heretofore mentioned have been the following : Joshua Green, Hon. N. F. Bryant, Ebenezer Mattoon, Gen. James Humphreys, Hon. Richard E. Newcomb, Rev. Luther Wil- son, Rev. Oliver Everett, Rev. Alpheus Harding (who was connected with the school as teacher and trustee for more than sixty years), Rev. John Goldsbury, Hon. Samuel Giles, Dea- con Asahel Paige, Rev. David Eastman, Jabez Sawyer, Esq. Among the alumni who have been prominent are the follow- ing : Ex-Governor Alexander H. Bullock, Jndge P. Emory Aldrich, Ilon. Frederick Allen, Hon. Alpheus Harding, Hon. Willard Richardson, formerly mayor of Galveston, Texas, and editor and proprietor of the Galveston News; Rev. Ozi W. Whittaker, Bishop of Nevada ; Rev. Francis E. Tower, Hon. N. L. Johnson, Hon. Edward A. Thomas.
Besides the academy, there are in New Salem 7 district schools, at which the average attendance is 135 scholars, and for whose support, in 1877, the sum of $1136.68 was expended.
Among the students of New Salem Academy who became college graduates was Alpheus Harding, who graduated at Dartmouth, was afterward preceptor at the academy, and pas- tor of the First Church in New Salem, in which town he re- sided for seventy years. Of the natives of New Salem who
received college diplomas, there were Warren Pierce, Proctor Pierce, Doctor Coles, Charles Pierce, Solomon Howe, Bishop Ozi W. Whittaker, and Willard Putnam.
The rates of tuition seem to have changed considerably ; commencing in 1796 at from $1.25 to $1.50 per term; after- ward declining to $1 and $1.25; then gradually increasing to $5 and $7 per term. Formerly there were four terms annually, each of eleven weeks; now there are three terms,-two of thirteen weeks, and one of twelve weeks.
The State gave the institution $10,000, and the town of New Salem and sundry friends gave $5000 additional. The value of the original grant of lands by the State was probably about $5000.
BURIAL-PLACES.
Accompanying are presented some of the oldest inscriptions found upon the headstones in the old grave-yard at New Salem Centre :
John Townsend, 1766; Aaron Putnam, 1768; Jos. Hascal, 1771; Alex. Conkey, 1773; Elizabeth Foster, 1774; Adam Weir, 1775; Elizabeth Trask, 1775; Jona- than Townsend, 1776; Abigail Foster, 1777; Catharine Kendall, 1777; Cotton Foster, 1781; Lucy Kendall, 1784; Jonathan Hascal, 1784; Abigail Shaw, 1785 ; Mary Foster, 1785; Elizabeth Foster, 1785; Amos Hascal, 1786; Eunice Putoam, 1786 ; Rhoda Streeter, 1786; John Heminway, 1786; Samuel Hascal, 1786; Mary Townsend, 1788; Benjamin Haseal, 1789 ; Jeremiah Streeter, 1790; Sarah Felton, 1790; Anna Kendall, 1790; Rev. Samuel Kendall, 1792; Ann Stacy, 1792; David Felton, 1792; Molly Heminway, 1792; Sally Putnam, 1793; Varney Putnam, 1794; Israel Trask, 1794; Lydia Putnam, 1794; John Putnam, 1794; Melissa Putnam, 1795; Polly Smith, 1797; Obadiah Townsend, 1798; Amos Putnam, 1799.
INDUSTRIES.
According to the State census reports, issued in 1875, the value of the manufactured products of New Salem for that year was $40,550, and that of agrienltural and domestic prod- ucts, 889,516. The manufactures are those of lumber-there being nine saw-mills in the town-and palm-leaf hats. Bacon & Day started a pail-factory at Thompson's Pond in 1848, but the mill was soon after destroyed by fire, and was succeeded by Thompson's saw-mill, now operated by Kilburn & Co.
There were tanneries in the town some years ago, and the manufacture of boots was also carried on to some extent, but these industries are now no more. New Salem used to be a great lumber region, and made annually heavy shipments of that material to other points, but this interest has also de- clined.
There are excellent farming-lands in the west, where the soil is black loam and gravel, and where the surface is undu- lating, while the centre is less fertile, and the eastern section fairly productive. The total assessed valuation of the town is $322,500, of which $257,800 is on real estate. The total tax (State, county, and town) is $6012.50, on a rate of about $18.50 per $1000. The debt of the town, March 20, 1878, was $7732.23.
MILITARY.
NEW SALEM'S WAR RECORD.
Soldiers were furnished by New Salem for service in the war of the Rebellion as follows :
Austin A. Haskell, 42d Mass Henry Holley, -. Jason Hanson, -. F. M. Conner, -
F. A. Blodgett, 31st Mass. Elbridge Smith, -. Charles Bliss,
Bailey, - - Winslow,- Wilson Upton, 31st Mass.
Charles E. Tupper,* 31st Mass.
A. A. Bliss,* 21st Mass. H. D. Bliss, 21st Mass.
Wm. II. Sawyer, 21st Mass.
Joseph W. Hayden,# 21st Mass.
F. S. Day, 27th Mass.
A. M. Russell, 31st Mass. Lyman Holden, 31st Mass. S. P. Williams, 31st Mass. Chauncey Upton, 31st Mass. II. C. Jo-lyn, 31st Mass.
F. W. Newland, 31st Mass.
Asa F. Richards, 31st Mass. Albroma Baldwin, 36th Mass. II. S. Smith, 53d Mass.
William Harvey, 21st Mass.
Erastus Weeks, 2Ist Mass.
Charles Davis, 27th Mass. Charles Griffin, 27th Mass. Orcelo Goodwin, 27th Mass. Alvin Clark, 26th Mass, A. B. Clark, 26th Mass. David Bliss,$ 15th Mass. Charles A. Stevens,* 31st Mass,
Charles Vaughan, 2Ist Mass. James Fleet, 2d Mass. James Golden, 2d Mass. Charles Scott, 2d Mass.
Albert Fleishman, 2d Mass.
Lewis Chombard, 18th Mass. Victor Dupon, 2d Mass. Francis Marshead, 2d Mass. Francis W. Neville, 26th Mass. David Hutcheson, 2d Mass. Charles Axworthy, 2d Mass. Wilber HI. Halc, 2d Mass, George II. Smith, 23d Mass.
D. W. Joslyn, 27th Mass. Adolphus Porter, 27th Mass. A. P. Pierce, 27th Mass. Jesse Strong, 1st Mass.
* Died in the service.
672
HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.
Reuben Gibson, 53d Mass. W. T. Putnam, * 53d Mass. A. E. Town,* 53d Mass. James L. Powers, 53d Mass. David Hamilton, Jr., 53d Mass. F. E. Stratton, 53d Mass. George C. Warner, 53d Mass. Clinrles Fisher, 53d Mass. V. V. Vaughnn, 53d Mass. F. C. Thompson, -. Emery Ilaskins, - Lyman C. Gibbs,* 21st Mass. D. E. Morrison, 3Ist Mass. J. F. Freeman, 53d Mass. A. A. Washburn, 52d Mass. L. D. Philips,* 32d Mass. 11. L. Freeman, 27th Mass. George Harding, 34th Mass.
Jesse C. llaskins, 53d Mass. 11. W. Amsden, 53d Mass. Charles P. Bliss, 53d Mass. 1. P. Sampson, Ist Mass. Arad Johnson,* 34th Mass. Geo. R. Hansen, 20th Mass. James F. Smith, Ist Ma88. Hugh D. Haskell, -. Samuel Hoyt, 3Ist Mass.
Wni. Il. Pierce, 27th Mass. Charles Reynolds,* 27th Mass. George W. Harding, 21st Mass. Jesse Hayden, 2Ist Mass. Merriam King, 21st Mass. Reuben Weeks, 21st Mass.
M. L. Chamberlain, - -. Asa P. Wheeler, 31st Mass.
William Hemingway,
Forrester Hanson, 31st Mass.
J. G. Hayden, 31st Mass, William N. Dexter, 27th Mass. Dwight Freeman, 27th Mass. A. Rawson, 36th Mass. William Leighton, -. F. 11. Bliss, 53d Mass, John T. Bliss,$ 27th Mass. William Bliss, 27th Mass. Lafayette Smith, *-. Henry Weeks, 27th Mass. A. W. King, 36th Mass. Daniel Bosworth, 27th Mass. E. G. Giles, 27th Mass. Lourin Ramsdell, 27th Mass. James W. Hayden, 2Ist Mass.
CONWAY.
GEOGRAPHICAL.
CONWAY, one of the largest towns in Franklin, with an area of about 23,000 acres, lies on the southern border of the county, and is bounded on the north by the town of Shelburne ; on the south by Hampshire County and the town of Whately in Franklin ; on the east by the town of Deerfield; and on the west by the towns of Ashfield and Buckland. The Troy and Greenfield Railroad touches the northeastern border of the town, along which also flows the Deerfield River. The nearest railway depot is Bardwell's, in Shelburne, a station on the Troy and Greenfield Railroad. Conway was in 1790 the third largest town, in point of population, in the county of Hamp- shire,-now embraced within the counties of Franklin, Hamp- shire, and Hampden.
NATURAL FEATURES.
Conway is a country of hills, and occupies, accordingly, a region noted for its salubrious atmosphere. The most con- spicuous elevations are Dry, Pine, Cricket, and Poplar Ilills, from whose summits fine seenic views may be obtained. The Deerfield River forms the northeastern boundary, and flowing through the town is a valuable mill-stream called the South River, which, rising in Ashfield, passes east to Conway Centre, and thence north and east, and empties into the Deerfield River. Bear River and Roaring Brook are the only other noticeable mill-streams. Native alum, fluor-spar, galena, mica slate, blaek limestone, and other minerals are sometimes found, but in no considerable quantities.
EARLY SETTLEMENT.
The territory now occupied by Conway was originally a portion of Deerfield, and received, early in 1762, its first set- tler, Cyrus Rice, of Barre, who built his house in the east, upon the slope of a hill near the site of the old tavern-stand long afterward known as the " Hawley place." This territory was included in a grant made to Deerfield in 1712, when its domain-in answer to the petition of Rev. John Williams- was enlarged so as to extend "nine miles westward into the western woods." The southern portion of this grant came to be known as the "Southwest district," or " Southwest," and is now the town of Conway.
There was some agitation in Deerfield in 1753 in favor of laying off the place called " Southwest" into lots, preparatory to its settlement, and late in that year the lots were laid out, containing 150 acres each, extending two hundred and forty rods in length from east to west, and one hundred rods in width. About that time the proprietors of "Southwest" made
a grant to John Blackmore of 10 aeres of land for a mill-spot, "at a place just before the crotch of South River," but there is no evidence to show that Blackmore entered upon oecu- pation. There was a road through the traet in 1754, from Deerfield to HIuntstown (now Ashfield), and in 1763 Deerfield appropriated £4 toward building a bridge over South River, 'and " making a county road adjacent to the same."
The second settler was Josiah Boyden, of Grafton. Israel Gates, of Barre, followed, and after him John Wing, Elijah May, David Parker, James Dickinson, John Bond, Jonas. Rice, John Boyden, and Joseph Catlin (who were settlers upon the " Eastern district"), Robert Hamilton, Henry Arms, George Stearns, Caleb Rice, Silas Rawson, Joel Baker, and Adoniram Bartlett (settling north of the "Eastern district"), Jonathan Root, Daniel Stow, John Thwing, Benjamin Pul- sifer, Timothy Thwing, Israel Rice, Timothy Rice, Theophilus Page, Wm. Warren, John Batchelder, Nathaniel Goddard, John Broderick, Michael Turpey, John Sherman, Samuel Newhall, David ITarrington, Jason Harrington, Jonathan Smith, Caleb Allen, James Warren, Daniel Newhall, Prince Tobey, Jabez Newhall, David Whitney, Benjamin Wells, Abner Forbes, Thomas French, Tertius French, Nathaniel Field, Asa Merrit, Jonathan Whitney, Caleb Sharp, Aaron Howe, Jas. Davis, Joel and Elias Dickinson, Elijah Wells, H. B. Childs, Gershom Farnsworth, Alexander Oliver, Robert and James Oliver, James Look, Elisha Clark, Ebenezer Allis, Lucius Allis, Matthew and Simeon Graves, James Gilmore, Samuel Wells, Amos Allen, Abel Dinsmore, Wm. Gates, Gideon Cooley, Nathaniel Marble, John Avery, Malachi Maynard, Solomon Goodale, Samuel Crittenden, Isaac Nel- son, Richard Collins, Solomon Hartwell, Moses and Calvin Maynard, Ehenezer Tolman, Consider Arms, Isaac and Elisha Amsden, Solomon Field, and Sylvanus Cobb.
The eastern half of the tract was first settled, and in 1767, when Conway was incorporated, embraced nearly all of the 200 people then inhabiting the district.
The first tavern-keeper was Thomas French, at whose inn -whieli stood where the Baptist Church, in Conway Centre, now stands-the first district meeting was held, in 1767, and it is probable that he kept tavern there some time previous to that date. Landlord French was a great man in those days, and his house a great place of resort. It was at one time his boast that he owned so much land that be could make the journey to Deerfield without stepping off his own broad acres. Reverses overtook him later in life, and he died a pauper.
The first blacksmith was Aaron Howe ; the first shoemaker, Maj. James Davis; and the first frame house in the district
Photo, by Popkins.
Edwin Cooley
EDWIN COOLEY was born in Conway, Franklin Co., Mass., March 24, 1819. His father, Gideon Cooley, was also a native of Conway, and was born April 17, 1781. He was married, in 1808, to Julia Waite, who was born in Hatfield, Mass., Nov. 14, 1778.
The subject of this biography is one of a family of nine children. He acquired the elements of his education in the common schools of his native town, and was afterward classically instructed in the Con- way Select School and Amherst Academy. At the age of twenty-one he commenced teaching school during the winter months, and worked upon the farm in the summer. This he continued for ten years, and at the age of twenty-six assumed the entire charge of the farm until his father's decease, in 1854. He subsequently purchased the property by paying off the other heirs, and has always resided upon the old homestead. He has filled many offices of trust in such a manner as to gain publie approbation.
In 1839 he was elected a member of the board of selectmen, and has filled that office, with a few inter- missions, up to the present time, a period of thirty years, and has also been chairman of the board a greater part of the time. During the same time he
has been assessor, and also justice of the peace two terms. In politics he was formerly a Whig, as have been all the members of the family for a great many years, but he is now a Republican, and in 1845 was elected to the Legislature, and was the first Repub- lican representative from the town of Conway. He is a man of particularly keen perceptions and sound judgment, and in consideration of these qualities he has frequently been called upon to appraise property and to settle up estates.
Mr. Cooley is a deacon in the Congregational Church of Conway, of which he has been a member thirty years. He is an earnest worker in the cause of religion.
He is also a member of the agricultural society, and has been trustee in the same at different times.
He married for his first wife, Gracie K. Vining, who was born in Hawley, Franklin Co., Mass., in January, 1824. She died May 14, 1854.
His present wife, Caroline E. Taylor, is a native of Williamsburg, Mass., and was born March 25, 1826. By this union he has had three children, - Edwin Homer, born Dec. 1, 1857; Lizzie Grace, born July 3, 1859; and Clara White, born Oet. 3, 1862.
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