USA > Massachusetts > History of the Military company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and honorable artillery company of Massachusetts. 1637-1888, Vol. II > Part 18
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Mr. Balch married, Oct. 11, 1737, Mary Sumner, of Roxbury. She died March 31, 1798. The oldest and youngest of their eight children were boys. Both were named Thomas, and both died in the service of their country ; one, at the age of eighteen years, died in 1756, at Albany, N. Y., on his return from an expedition during the French War, and the other, at the age of nineteen, died in 1780, off Halifax, as is supposed, on a British prison-ship.
1 John Phillips, Esq. (1725), died April 19, 1763. The preacher of the Artillery sermon in 1763 made the following reference to him : -
"Altho' the peculiar Smiles of Providence which attend this anniversary Solemnity, inspire Joy and Gratitude into all our Hearts, yet we feel our Sorrow and Mourning renewed for the Decease of the late worthy Colonel Phillips, who was so long an Orna-
ment to the Artillery Company, as well as a great Blessing in the other various public Stations which he filled with Honor, Fidelity and acceptance. But he is gone ! Gone to be here no more! His Piety Integrity Benevolence, and extensive Kindness and Goodness, afforded him solid Comfort at the Ap- . proach of the last Enemy, and Victory over him. Ife quitted the Field of Battle with Honor."
John Winslow
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1764. The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1764 were : John Wins- low (1764), captain; James Cunningham (1761), lieutenant ; Richard Boynton (1759), ensign. William Bordman (1758), was first sergeant ; Andrew Symmes, Jr. (1760), second sergeant ; Moses Pitcher (1760), third sergeant ; Samuel Simpson (1759), fourth sergeant, and John Edwards (1747), clerk.
The year 1764 is memorable on account of the great depression in Boston, occa- sioned by the prevalence of the small-pox. Many of the merchants and traders moved, with their goods, into the country. It afflicted fourteen families on Fish Street, among which were Richard Bulkley (1722), Benjamin Eustis (1763), who "lived near the Mill Ponds"; Edward Proctor (1756), "Schooner Tavern in Fish Street " ; Paul Revere, Capt. Levi Jennings (1764), John Coburn (1751), William Dawes (1760). June 30, 1764, the selectmen reported that during the preceding six months, of the six hundred and forty-four white persons who had the small-pox "the Natural way," one hundred and two died, and of four thousand six hundred and ninety whites who had it by inoculation, forty-three died. One thousand five hundred and thirty-seven persons removed into the country.
The birth and coronation days of George the Third were celebrated, as usual, in 1764, but the Artillery Company, as a body, very seldom participated in those festivities. This year, as the election anniversary of the Artillery Company, and the twenty-seventh anniversary of the birth of the king, both occurred on Monday, June 4, the latter was celebrated at Concord, where the branches of the colonial government were then sitting.
Dec. 3, 1764, the governor made the following promotions in the regiment of militia in Boston, of which Joseph Jackson, Esq. (1738), was colonel; William Taylor, Esq. (1738), lieutenant-colonel ; Thomas Marshall, Esq. (1761), major ; Richard Boyn- ton, Esq. (1759), captain; Daniel Bell (1733), captain-lieutenant ; Adino Paddock (1762), captain-lieutenant of the train of artillery ; Christopher Clark (1759), first lieutenant.
The members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1764 were John Brocas, Thomas Bumstead, William Hickling, Jr., Levi Jennings, John Osborn, Jr., John Winslow.
John Brocas (1764), sailmaker, of Boston, was probably a son of John and Ann Broccus (Brocas) and was born in 1704
Oct. 17, 1764, the selectmen passed upon Mr. John Brocas' (1764) Province Account, amounting to four pounds nineteen shillings and ten pence half penny. He was second sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1766 and became ensign in the militia. He died in 1770, aged sixty-seven years, when administration was granted on his estate.
Thomas Bumstead (1764), coach-maker, of Boston.
Thomas Bumstead (1647), the emigrant, died in 1697. He had a son, Jeremiah, born Oct. 14, 1678, who married, (1) June 16, 1700, Sarah Abraham, and, (2) March 8, 1704, Elizabeth Bridges. Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Bridges) Bumstead had Jeremiah, born March 26, 1708, who married, (1) Bethia Sherwin, Feb. 2, 1726, and, (2) Sarah Howard, March 18, 1729. He was a glazier, and died about Nov. 1, 1747.
John Brocas (1764). AUTHORITY: Boston New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1864; Boston Records.
Records. Thomas Bumstead (1764). AUTHORITIES :
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[1764
Thomas Bumstead (1764) joined the Old South Church, July 3, 1763. His resi- dence was at the corner of Bromfield's Lane and Common Street. In 1766, he was fourth sergeant of the Artillery Company, and in the militia became a major.
After Adino Paddock (1762) had left the country, his estate, it is said, fell into the hands of Thomas Bumstead (1764), from whom Bumstead Place, opposite the Granary Burial-Ground, on Tremont Street, took its name. Mr. Bumstead (1764) continued the manufacture of coaches, etc., at the old stand of Major Paddock (1762).
After the evacuation of Boston, it was desired to cleanse the town. A committee was therefore appointed, of which Thomas Bumstead (1764) was one, authorized to go through the several wards and have such houses smoked and cleansed as needed it ; and also to make a return of the inhabitants of their respective wards. Mr. Bumstead's ( 1764) ward was No. 11. He died May 8, 1828, aged eighty-eight years.
William Hickling, Jr. (1764), mast-maker, of Boston, son of William and Sarah (Sales) Hickling, was born May 21, 1742.
His father was a noted distiller; joined the Old South Church, Jan. 17, 1730-1 ; became a founder of the Eleventh Congregational Church, Feb. 17, 1747-8, and died Dec. 10, 1774.
William, Jr. (1764), was a mast-maker by trade, and his yard was on Purchase Street. He never held any office in the town of Boston. He died June 1, 1790, aged forty-eight years.
Levi Jennings (1764), hatter, of Boston. He married Bethia -. His place of business was No. 75 Newbury (Washington) Street. He was chosen a scavenger in 1765, and August 28, 1776, was chosen a juryman for a court to be held at Boston, Sept. 5, Timothy Pickering, Esq., judge, for the trial and condemnation of vessels, and Jan. 11, 1778, was selected as juryman for a Maritime Court. He was third sergeant of the Artillery Company in 1766, and a captain in the militia.
Levi Jennings (1764) received the Masonic degrees in the First Lodge, in Boston, May 3, 1762. He was present in St. John's Grand Lodge several times between 1762 and 1774. At the installation of M. W. John Rowe, Nov. 23, 1768, he walked in the procession, carrying the Bible " on a blue velvet cushion, fringed and tasselled with gold."
John Osborn, Jr. (1764). John Osborn (1764) was first sergeant of the Artil- lery Company in 1767, and he rose to the grade of captain in military service.
Hon. John Osborn, a member of the Old South Church, Feb. 25, 1721, died Aug. 27, 1768, aged eighty years. John Osborn, son of John and Ruth Osborn, was born May 16, 1716. Another John Osborn died in September, 1791, aged fifty-one years, and was buried from his dwelling-house in Eliot Street. Hon. John Osborn did busi- ness on Milk Street ; also, in 1760, on Long Wharf, and a John Osborn kept the Red- Cross tavern in 1746.
John Winslow (1764), husbandman, of Marshfield, son of Isaac and Sarah (Hensley) Winslow, of Marshfield, was born May 27, 1702; married, Feb. 16, 1726,
William Hickling, Jr. (1764). AUTHORITIES : Hill's Hist. of Old South Church; Boston Records. Levi Jennings (1764). AUTHORITIES: Bos- ton Records; Early Masonic Records.
John Winslow (1764). AUTHORITIES: New Eng. Hist. and Gen. Reg., 1863; Whitman's Hist. A. and H. A. Company, Ed. 1842.
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Mary Little, and succeeded to the Careswell estate. After her decease, he married a widow Johnson (born Barker), of Hingham. He had three sons : Josiah, Pelham, and Isaac. Pelham was a major in the British army, on Long Island, in 1776, and died there.
John Winslow (1764) was a colonel in the expedition to Nova Scotia in 1755, and was compelled to be a participator in the exile of the Acadians. He has been blamed for the cruel removal of seven thousand people from their native country, for the ruining of their homes and farms, and for their being scattered throughout the English colonies. He acted under orders emanating from " reasons of state," for Gen. Winslow (1764) was eminently a generous and kind-hearted man. He was a grandson of Gov. Josiah Winslow, of Plymouth Colony, and very early exhibited a liking for military exercise. In 1740 he held a command in the regiment that was sent to Cuba. He became a major-general in the British line ; had chief command of several expeditions into the Kennebec country ; participated in the conflict in Nova Scotia in 1755, and was commander-in-chief at Fort William Henry, on Lake Erie, in 1756.
Mr. Hutchinson says, " He was younger brother to Capt. Josiah and possessed the same martial Spirit." " Capt. Josiah," eldest son of Isaac and Sarah Winslow, graduated at Harvard College in 1721, and was killed by French and Indians at St. George's River, Me., May 1, 1724. Edward, another brother of John (1764), for some years was judge of probate, became a royalist, and fled to Halifax, where he died in 1784, aged seventy years.
John Winslow (1764) died at Hingham, April 17, 1774, aged seventy-two years. His portrait, with the portraits of his ancestors, is in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Mr. Whitman (1810) says, " His sword is now transmitted in the family. His bravery was proverbial and his reputation as an officer excellent."
He was captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1764.
The record of the Artillery Company for 1764 is as follows : -
" April 6th. 1764. Monday being foul weather; being under Arms the Friday following, Voted, That the Rev. Mr. Woodward of Weston be desired to preach the next Artillery Election Sermon, and that the present Commission Officers with the Treasurer be a Committee to wait on him & desire the same.
" May 7th. 1764. The above Committee waited on the Rev. Mr. Woodward of Weston to desire him to preach the next Artillery Election Sermon; Reported that he had accepted the same. The Company being at Faneuil Hall, Voted, That the Treas- urer pay twenty-four pounds, & the Clerk four pounds to the Commission Officers, towards defreying the charge of the next Election Dinner, and the Company to dine with them. Voted, That the Clerk, for the future, settle his accounts in May annually. " Attest : JOHN EDWARDS, Clerk.
"June 4th. 1764. The Company being under Arms, It was then Voted, That the present Commission Officers, with the Treasurer be a Committee to wait on the Rev. Mr. Samuel Woodward & return him the thanks of this Company for his sermon preached this day. Attest : JOHN EDWARDS, Clerk.
"September 3d, 1764. The Company being at Faneuil Hall, Voted, That Col. Jackson [1738], the Treasurer of the Ancient & Honorable Artillery Company, be desired to let out the Monies that is or may be in his hands belonging to said Company,
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[1765
taking good and sufficient landed security for the same. Voted, That Capt William Homes [1747], Mr. John Deming [1756] and Mr. Samuel Torrey, Junr. [1752] be a Committee to examine the former Clerk's Accounts, and to look over the List and to settle with those that are in arrears. Attest. ROBERT JENKINS, Tert's, Clerk."
Rev. Samuel Woodward, of Weston, delivered the Artillery election sermon 1 of 1764. He was a son of Ebenezer Woodward, and was born at Newton, Mass., in 1726. He graduated at Harvard College in 1748, and was ordained as pastor of the church in Weston, Mass., Dec. 25, 1751. He continued in this relation until his decease, which occurred Oct. 5, 1782, at the age of fifty-six years. "He died greatly beloved and lamented by the people of his charge, by his brethren in office, and by an extensive circle of acquaintance."
1765. The officers of the Artillery Company elected in 1765 were : William Homes (1747), captain ; Thomas Dawes (1754), lieutenant ; Samuel Torrey, Jr. (1752), ensign. Benjamin Edes (1760) was first sergeant ; Joseph Webb, Jr. (1761), second sergeant ; Thomas Stevenson (1762), third sergeant ; Elias Dupee (1763), fourth sergeant, and Robert Jenkins, tertius (1756), clerk.
The world-renowned Stamp Act passed the British Parliament, March 22, 1765. A copy of the Act soon arrived in Boston, and it was reprinted by Edes (1760) and Gill for the information of the public, in a folio pamphlet of twenty-four pages. The town took immediate action, instructed its representatives, and sent letters to Gen. Conway, Secretary of State, London, and to Col. Isaac Barre, M. P. On the 14th of August, 1765, the popular indignation was manifested. At Hanover Square, at the junction of Essex, Orange, and Newbury Streets, stood a number of elms, one of which became known as the "Liberty Tree." Upon one of these trees two effigies were suspended, one of which represented a stamp officer. Toward evening the effigies were taken down, placed on a bier, supported by six men, and were carried in procession along Orange and Marlborough Streets and Cornhill, passed the town-house, and down King Street, turning through Kilby Street. A new building, supposed to be erected for a stamp-office, was demolished. Thence the procession proceeded to Fort Hill, where the effigies were burned. They attacked the property of Andrew Oliver, father of Andrew, Jr. (1786), and marching to the Province House, dispersed.
The persons who prepared and suspended the effigies were John Avery, Jr. (1786), Thomas Crafts (1765), John Smith, Henry Wells, Thomas Chase, Stephen Cleverly, Henry Bass, and Benjamin Edes 2 (1760).
After the Stamp-Act riot, it was resolved at a town meeting to preserve order.
Rev. Samuel Woodward. AUTHORITY : Sprague's Annals, Vol. I., p. 619, note.
1 " Monday, June 4, being the anniversary of the election of officers for the Ancient and Honour- able Artillery Company, His Excellency the Gov- ernor, with as many of the Honorable his Majesty's Council, and House of Representatives as were in town, and a number of other gentlemen, together with the Company attended divine service at the old Brick Meeting Ilonse, where a sermon adapted to the occasion was preached by the Rev. Mr. Samuel
Woodward of Weston; after which they went in procession to Faneuil Hall, where was a very ele- gant dinner provided by the company. In the afternoon, the following gentlemen were elected officers for the ensuing year; viz: General Winslow [1764] Captain, James Cunningham Esq [1761] Lieutenant Colonel, Mr. Richard Boynton [1759] Ensign. In the evening there was a genteel enter- tainment at Faneuil Ilall, provided by the newly elected officers."- Boston Gazette, June 11, 1764.
" Drake's Hist. of Boston, p. 695.
-
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In consequence of the above resolve, the selectmen, magistrates, and other gentle- men of the town, together with the cadet company, several companies of the militia, and the company of the train of artillery, kept night-watch to prevent any such further pro- ceedings.
In April, 1765, the field officers of the Boston regiment were as in 1764. Among officers of the line : Jeremiah Stimpson (1761) became captain-lieutenant of Col. Jackson's (1738) company, and Edward Jackson (1758), lieutenant ; Josiah Waters (1747), first lieutenant ; Elisha Eaton (1768), ensign ; Samuel Ballard (1755), first lieu- tenant ; Ephraim May (1765), lieutenant ; William Bordman (1758), lieutenant ; Nath- aniel Ridgeway (1756), ensign; Edward Proctor (1756), ensign; Thomas Adams (1765), lieutenant ; Daniel Bell (1733), captain; Zephaniah Hartt (1765), lieutenant, and Timothy Thornton (1765), ensign.
In the train of artillery : Adino Paddock (1762) continued as captain-lieutenant ; Christopher Clark (1759), first-lieutenant ; Samuel Sellon (1765), second lieutenant ; Thomas Crafts, Jr. (1765), lieutenant and fire worker.
The members of the Artillery Company recruited in 1765 were : Thomas Adams, Sarson Belcher, Samuel Bradlee, Clement Collins, Jr., Thomas Crafts, Jr., William Cun- ningham, Samuel Gridley, Zephaniah Hartt, Nathaniel Heath, William Heath, John Leighton, Christopher Marshall, Ephraim May, Dimond Morton, Williamı Perkins, William Rogers, Samuel Searle, Samuel Sellon, Asa Stoddard, Jonathan Stoddard, John Stutson, Timothy Thornton, Ebenezer Torrey, William Torrey, George Trott, Edward Tucker- man, John Wells, David Wheeler, Jr.
Thomas Adams (1765), of Boston, was born in 1743. He was published to Diana Paine, Sept. 7, 1768. She died Jan. 10, 1803, aged fifty-eight years.
Nov. 6, 1776, he was chosen one of a committee to ascertain the damage to the town since the Boston Port Bill, and, Feb. 6, 1777, he was selected from Ward I as one of a committee to prevent monopolies. He rose to the grade of captain in the militia, being ensign of the Fusileers in 1787-8, first lieutenant in 1792, and captain of that com- pany in 1793, 1794, and 1795. His residence was near Charles River Bridge. He died Sept. 9, 1796, aged fifty-three years.
Sarson Belcher (1765), hatter, in 1786, on Newbury (now Washington) Street, son of Moses, Jr., and Ennice Belcher, was born in Braintree, June 21, 1741. Mr. Belcher (1765) was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety in 1779, and in 1780 was one of a committee to raise the town's quota for the Continental Army. He was active in the militia, and in 1782 held the position of captain in the Boston regiment.
Aug. 20, 1788, Sarson Belcher (1765) with five others, all appointed by the trades- men and manufacturers of Boston, issued a circular letter to the manufacturers of the country, setting forth the necessity of protection to home industries.1
He never held any office in the town of Boston. He died Dec. 24, 1794, aged fifty- two years, and " was buried from his late dwelling-house on Newbury (Washington) Street, opposite the White Horse Tavern." His wife, Fanny, died Aug. 25, 1793, aged fifty years.
Thomas Adams (1765). AUTHORITY: Bos-
1 Mem. Hist. of Boston, Vol. IV., P. 75, et seq. ton Records.
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Samuel Bradlee, Jr. (1765), was elected constable of Boston in 1760. He was very prominent in the militia, being second lieutenant and adjutant of a company of artillery, in Boston, in 1787-8, and was chosen captain of the same company Oct. 15, 1791. He held that position until Oct. 10, 1797, when he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the Boston regiment. He died1 July 30, 1798, in commission, and was buried under arms.
Four companies of the First Regiment and Capt. Wild's Artillery formed the escort at the burial. Every civic and military demonstration, possible, was made out of respect to the memory of a very worthy citizen and soldier.
Clement Collins, Jr. (1765), carpenter, of Boston, son of Clement and Sarah Collins, of Boston, was born March 5, 1732. He was published Oct. 4, 1764, to marry Hannah Jenkins, of Boston. He married, (2) Elizabeth Currier, published Dec. 7, 1780. He was chosen a surveyor of boards and viewer of shingles from 1771 to 1774 inclusive. In 1786, he resided on Fish (now North) Street. After service in the war, he was re-elected, in 1778, surveyor of boards, also from 1779 to 1783 inclusive.
He died Sept. 10, 1798, aged sixty-five years, "an honest worthy man."
Thomas Crafts, Jr. (1765), japanner and painter, also carpenter, of Boston, son of Thomas and Ann Crafts, was born in Boston July 13, 1740. He was published May 12, 1763, to marry Frances Gore, daughter of Capt. John (1743) and Frances (Pinckney) Gore. Col. Crafts (1765) died Jan. 14, 1799, aged fifty-nine years, his wife Frances having died Sept. 4, 1788. His son Thomas, Jr., born April 9, 1767, delivered the oration before the town authorities July 4, 1791, and died Aug. 25, 1798. July 9, 1766, he applied to the selectmen for leave to frame the new jail, near Mr. Holbrook's school. In the same year, a gallery was erected on the westerly side of the Representatives' Chamber, in what is now called the " Old State House," for the accommodation of the public. "Thomas Crafts, Housewright" did the work, and was paid therefor fifteen pounds six shillings and five pence.
John Adams, in his diary, under date of Jan. 15, 1766, says: "I spent the evening with the Sons of Liberty, at their own apartment, in Hanover Square, near the Tree of Liberty. It is a counting room in Chase & Speakman's distillery ; a very small room it is. There were present, John Avery, a distiller of liberal education; John Smith, a brazier ; Thomas Crafts, the painter ; Benjamin Edes, the printer ; Stephen Cleverly, brazier ; Thomas Chase, distiller ; Joseph Fields, master of a vessel ; Henry Bass, George Trott, jeweller, and Henry Welles," etc. Hanover Square was the corner of Washington and Essex streets. Of the above mentioned, John Avery, Jr., joined the Artillery Com-
Thomas Crafts (1765). AUTHORITIES: Bos- ton Records; Early Masonic Records; Craft's Me- morial; New Eng. Chronicle, July 22, 1776; Mass. Archives; The Hundred Boston Orators, p. 231; Sumner's Hist. of East Boston, P. 396; Mem. Hist. of Boston, Vol. III., p. 183.
The "Orderly Book of the Regiment of Artil- lery raised for the defence of the town of Boston, commanded by Col Thomas Crafts [1765] from June 1777 to Dec. 1778, also called the 'Massachusetts State's Train,'" is printed in the Historical Collec- tions of the Essex Institute, Vol. XIII., Salem, Mass., 1876.
1 " Died yesterday, Lieut Col. Samuel Bradlee [1765], Commandant of the Ist Regiment. A gen- tleman highly esteemed for every social virtue. In this untimely stroke of death his bereaved family bewail the loss of the kind husband, the tender parent, and the affectionate brother. As an active and useful citizen, a kind benefactor, and a generous friend, Col. Bradlee [1765] shone distinguished and will long, very long, be lamented. On account of the weather, his remains will be interred this after- noon from his late house in Dock Square at 5 o'clock."- Columbian Centinel, Aug. 1, 1798.
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pany in 1786; Thomas Crafts, Jr., joined the Artillery Company in 1765 ; Benjamin Edes, in 1760; and George Trott, in 1765. Col. Craft's (1765) shop was "opposite the Great Tree."
Thomas Crafts, Jr. (1765), received the Masonic degrees in the Lodge of St. Andrew in 1762. He was unanimously elected grand treasurer of the Massachusetts Grand Lodge, A. F. and A. M., at its institution Dec. 27, 1769, by M. W. Joseph Warren, and served one year. Dec. 27, 1776, Col. Thomas Crafts appears as grand treasurer, and in 1777 as junior grand warden, p. t. Dec. 4, 1778, he was elected senior grand deacon; Dec. 3, 1779, junior grand warden.
Col. Thomas Crafts (1765) was appointed July 19, 1774, one of a committee of twenty-four to select a proper list of persons to be added to the Committee on Ways and Means. The committee reported the names of fourteen persons, one of whom was Mr. Thomas Crafts, Jr. (1765). At the same meeting he was chosen on a committee selected to receive donations for such in town as are sufferers by means of an Act of the British Parliament for shutting up the harbor of Boston, and to distribute the same. Dec. 7, 1774, he was selected, with six others, to bring in the names of a proper committee " to carry the Resolutions of the late Continental Congress into Execution." He served as fireward in 1775 and 1778, and in 1776 was selected as one from Ward 4 to " collect an account of the damages sustained since the Boston Port Bill." May 3, 1777, an article in the town warrant was " To take the mind of the town with respect to the best method * of preparation and defence at this important crisis." After some debate a committee of nine was appointed, of which Col. Thomas Crafts (1765) was one, to report later in the day. It did report in favor of sinking hulks in the channels of the harbor, and of calling for volunteers to do duty "in this town and harbor," to be under command of Col. Crafts (1765).
July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was publicly read for the first time in Boston. The council, representatives, magistrates, selectmen, clergy, the militia, and a great throng of people were present. The regiments and artillery were drawn up in King Street, at one o'clock P. M., when, from the balcony on the east end of the Old State House, the Declaration was proclaimed by Col. Thomas Crafts (1765). It was received with great joy by the people, who cheered ; the guns of the harbor and of the fortifications answered, and the artillery fired their cannon thirteen times, the regiments fired volleys in thirteen divisions, thus indicating the number of American States united. The evening was spent in festivity.
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