USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Newbury > Ould Newbury: historical and biographical sketches > Part 32
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Dr. William Snelling,* who was a physician in Newbury in 1650, and who removed to Boston in 1654, owned land in that neighborhood which may possibly have extended to the crest of the hill. It is impossible, however, in the absence of definite information, to state with accuracy the bounds and limits of his estate. The town records are vague and uncer-
* Complaint was made to the county court held at Salem that Doctor Snelling had spoken disrespectfully of his neighbors. His testimony and the testimony of his friends is as follows : -
This is to certify whom it may concern that we, the subscribers, being called upon to testify against (Doctor) William Snelling for words by him uttered, affirm that being in way of merry discourse, a health being drunk to all friends, he answered,
I'll pledge my friends, And for my foes A plague for their heels And a poxe for their toes.
Since when he hath affirmed that he only intended the proverb used in the west country, nor do we believe he intended otherwise.
WILLIAM THOMAS. THOMAS MILWARD.
March 12, 1651-2, all which I acknowledge, and I am sorry I did not express my intent, or that I was so weak as to use so foolish a proverb.
GULIELMUS SNELLING.
Notwithstanding this humble apology Doctor Snelling was "fined ten shillings and cost of court."
NATHANIEL TRACY.
REV. THOMAS CARY.
OLD HILL BURYING GROUND.
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OLD HILL BURYING GROUND
tain, and absolutely nothing can be gathered from the reg- istry of deeds at Salem relating to this subject. Whether the land now known as the Old Hill burying ground was acquired by purchase or by grant from the town of Newbury, remains, therefore, somewhat in doubt ; but the parish evi- dently made use of it for burial purposes for more than a century.
On the summit of the hill, Rev. John Lowell, the first minister of the parish, was buried in 1768; and on the southerly slope, not far from the Hill Street entrance, is the grave of his successor in the ministry, Rev. Thomas Cary, who died Nov. 24, 1808. The inscriptions on the tablets that have been erected to their memory will be found in full on page 379 of Coffin's History of Newbury.
Rev. Christopher B. Marsh, pastor, of the North Church, Rev. John Murray, pastor of the Old South Church, and Rev. Charles W. Milton, pastor of the Prospect Street Church, are buried only a few rods distant ; and their epitaphs also have been transcribed, and will be found in the same volume, page 385.
Other citizens of Newbury and Newburyport, prominent in social, political, and professional life, rest beneath the sod of this old burying ground. Many of the tombstones and marble slabs that mark their graves show signs of age, and need to be carefully repaired and relettered. A few of the interesting and noteworthy names and dates to be found on these moss-covered stones are as follows :-
Richard Kent died May 8, 1740, aged sixty-eight. "Colo- nel of the Second Regiment in the County of Essex."
Sarah Lowell, wife of Hon. John Lowell, and daughter of Stephen Higginson, of Salem, Mass., died May 5, 1772.
Daniel Farnham, an eminent barrister and prominent loyalist, died May 18, 1776, aged fifty-six.
Nathaniel Tracy, a distinguished merchant during the Revolutionary War, died Sept. 21, 1796, aged forty-five.
Hon. Benjamin Greenleaf, judge of probate for Essex County and afterward chief justice of the court of common pleas, died Jan. 13, 1799, aged sixty-seven.
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Hon. Theophilus Bradbury, one of the justices of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts, died Sept. 6, 1803, aged sixty-four.
Timothy Dexter, "The Lord of the East, Lord of the West, and the greatest philosopher in the known world," died Oct. 26, 1806.
Así
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GRAVESTONES OF TIMOTHY DEXTER AND WIFE.
Samuel Lord Dexter, his son, died July 20, 1807. Elizabeth Dexter, his wife, died July 3, 1809.
Charles Herbert, confined in the Old Mill Prison at Plymouth, England, during the Revolutionary War, died in Newburyport Sept. 3, 1808, aged fifty-one.
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OLD HILL BURYING GROUND
Micajah Sawyer, M. D., an accomplished scholar and emi- nent physician, died Sept. 29, 1815, aged seventy-eight.
Timothy Palmer, inventor of the long wooden arch used in the construction of the Essex-Merrimack bridge in 1792, born in Boxford, Mass., died in Newburyport Dec. 19, 1821, aged seventy.
Elder Robert Murray, father of Rev. John Murray, died Dec. 13, 1790, aged ninety-one.
Theodore Parsons, infant son of Theophilus Parsons and Elizabeth Parsons, died Feb. 18, 1787.
" Mrs. Mary Toppan, born in Boston Nov. II, O. S. 1727, died in Newburyport Jan. 9, 1833, aged one hundred and five years, one month, and fifteen days."
Nathaniel Knapp, who was with the English troops under General Amherst at the second capture of Louisburg, died July 7, 1816, aged eighty-one years. The stone that marks his grave was also erected in memory of his son, Jacob Knapp, who was at the battle of Bunker Hill, and died at sea in 1776 in the twentieth year of his age.
On the summit of the hill, near the corner of Pond and Greenleaf Streets, there is a moss-covered slab that bears the following curious epitaph :-
Omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse Supremum.
Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Mary McHard, the virtuous & ami- able consort of Capt. William McHard of NewburyPort, who amidst the Laudable exertions of a very useful & desirable life in which her Christian Profession was well adorned, and a fair copy of every social virtue displayed, was in a state of health suddenly summoned to the skies & snatched from ye eager embraces of her friends (and the throbbing hearts of her disconsolate family confessed their fairest prospects of sublunary bliss were in one moment dashed) by swallowing a pea at her own table whence in a few hours she sweetly breathed her soul away into her Saviours arms on the 8th day of March A.D. 1780. Ætatis 47.
This mournful stone, as a faithful Monument of virtue fled to realms above & a solemn Monitor to all below the stars, is erected by her Husband.
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On the northwesterly side of the hill, near the grave of Timothy Dexter, is a modest slab that bears the following inscription : -
Sacred to the Memory of that valuable Instructor, Capt. Thomas Clouston who in the midst of great usefulness took his departure on Monday evening Aug. 10, 1795 Æt 52.
Happy the Seaman who his Compass knows And steers to Heaven tho' storm & tempest blows. His Admiral's signal quickly he saw fly, Which bid his bark to sail beyond the sky. His sails he trimmed & took his leave of all, Knowing it right to obey his Admiral's call.
Erected by his late pupils.
Not far distant is a stone erected
In Memory of Mr Richard Page who Was Drowned July 13th 1780. Aged 30.
A Wits A Feather And A Chief A Rod. An Honest Man's the Noblest Work of God.
One of the most unique and strikingly characteristic epitaphs in this old burying ground reads as follows :-
Here lies Interred the Body of Capt William Starkey who Departed this Life October the 28th 1766 in the 49th year of his age.
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OLD HILL BURYING GROUND
Tho Neptunes waves & Boreas Blasts
Has toss'd me to and Fro,
In Spite of both, by God's Decree, I'm Anchored here below, Where now I do at Anchor Ride
With many of our Fleet. I Hope again I shall set Sail My Saviour Christ to Meet .*
In the following inscription, cut on the gravestone of another old ship-master, who died more than twenty years later, the same thought is expressed in somewhat different language : -
Here lies Buried the Body of Capt Joseph Newman Obiit IIth of Jany A.D. 1788 at Sea. Etatis 45 Years.
By Borea's blasts and Neptune's waves, I was toss'd to and fro. Now, well escap'd from all their rage, I anchor here below. Safely I ride in triumph here, With many of our fleet ; "Till signal calls to weigh again, Our Admiral Christ to meet.
Among the noticeable gravestones in this old burying ground is one erected to the memory of Deacon Parker Noyes. It is of light gray color, tinged with yellow, and bears an inscription cut with unusual care and skill. The elaborate scroll work, with the figures representing angels, at the top of the stone, the shape and style of the memorial letters, and the ornamental border of oak leaves and acorns
* Captain William Starkey was a member of the Fellowship Club, organized in Boston June I, 1742. At a meeting of the club held Jan. 7, 1752, it was voted "that Capt. Wm Starkey be paid out of the Box Twenty one Pounds Ten Shillings Old Tenor, being all the Cash at present in the Box, and that he shall be reliev'd further According to the Ability of the Box, and that the present Clerk. G. Tidmarsh, Forward the Same to him at Newbury, his Dwelling place, & that the said G. Tidmarsh write him a letter on ye same in Belialf of the Society."
Feb. z, 1754, the Fellowship Club, under the name of the Marine Society of Boston, was granted an act of incorporation by William Shirley, governor of the province of Massachusetts Bay, and in that act, among the corporators, the name of William Starkey stands at the head of the list.
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surrounding the inscription are reproduced in the half-tone print that accompanies this sketch. The alphabetical lists,
The immortal pali quickleft itsfralativs. And soard up to the Bal Beating of G. In Memory of DEACON PARKER NOYES. Who departed this Life the 22" of Sept: DJ 787. In the 8 1" Year of his Age. He was ofteem'd a Benevolent Friend omn.l Sincere Christian Beli al fordi Hun The five thy pictres it fifo; pats f me few years Thy flowering Spring thy To mmes code & forth. The Poter Autumn facing vito age And pale concluding Winter come at last And Shuts the france. Paul stages fest
abcdefghijklmprtyz AabcDdEe Gghbik
GRAVESTONE IN OLD HILL BURYING GROUND.
beneath the inscription, were evidently placed there to show the ability of the stone cutter, and, perhaps, incidentally to advertise his work.
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OLD HILL BURYING GROUND
The limits of the old burying ground were extended when the most desirable places on the hill had been appropriated for the accommodation of the silent congregation gathered there. The plan of Frog Pond and vicinity, drawn in 1771 and reproduced, in connection with the sketch of Bartlett Mall on a subsequent page of this book, gives the dimen- sions of the burying ground as originally laid out. In 1790, the town of Newburyport "voted to enlarge and fence the burying place as thought best." The lower portion, extend- ing to the junction of Pond and Auburn Streets, was then added, and has since formed a part of the sacred enclosure.
In the valley on the northwesterly side of the hill, sloping gently down from Greenleaf Street to the lower level below, is a long row of gravestones, standing side by side, erected by friends and relatives to the memory of those refugees and exiles from persecution and oppression whose wanderings and earthly troubles ended here. The inscriptions on these stones are simple and suggestive. They speak of foreign lands and noble birth and parentage. Whittier, in his poem "The Countess," alludes to one who came with this band of exiles to this quiet neighborhood, and afterward lived for a while at Rocks Village, East Haverhill, and married, March 21, 1805, Mary Ingalls, daughter of Henry and Abigail In- galls of that place. When peace was restored on the islands of Guadaloupe and St. Domingo, many of these strangers re- turned to their homes ; but some of their number are quietly resting in the Old Hill burying ground. From the low stones that mark their graves the following inscriptions are taken : -
Sacred to the memory of Mr Poyen ST: SAUVEUR who for a long time was An Inhabitant & a respectable Planter in the Island of Guadaloupe, died Oct : 14th 1792, Aged 52 Years.
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MR. MEDERIC DUMAS. Natif de Bordeaux habitant du ford Dauphin Isle St Dominque decede & Newburyport le 9th Mai 1792, Agé de 49 Ans.
"The grave beneath the Thorn Tree," written by Han- nah F. Gould and published fifty years ago in a volume en- titled " Gathered Leaves," contains an interesting description of " Marie Felicité Nadau," who sleeps peacefully by the side of her kinsmen and friends. The inscription on her grave- stone reads as follows : -
Ci-git MARIE FELICITE NADAU neé a la Basseterre Guadaloupe décédé le 19th Fevrier 1812, Agee de 25 ans et 6 mois Epousé de Mr Pierre Merlande Habitant au quartier de Stº Rose de la dite Ile.
The story of her life is too long to be inserted here. Her husband and brother, sad and disconsolate, soon after her burial took their departure for the island of Guadaloupe in a vessel sailing under a neutral flag ; but the monumental slab erected to her memory still stands, a silent testimonial of affection, and still attracts the wandering footsteps of the stranger to her grave.
On the opposite side of the old burying ground, not far from the junction of Pond and Auburn Streets, seven of the crew of the brig "Pocahontas" are buried. The vessel, bound from Cadiz to Newburyport, James G. Cook, master, was wrecked on Plum Island during a severe storm, and all on board perished. Some of the bodies were recovered a few days later. Wrapped in the American flag, they were borne into the broad aisle of the Old South Church, where funeral services were held. A long procession, numbering several hundred persons, followed the unknown dead to their last
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resting place. A marble tablet, erected to their memory by the members of the Newburyport Bethel Society, bears the following inscription : -
Here lie the remains of Seven of the unfortunate Crew of the Brig Pocahontas which was wrecked on Plumb Island Dec. 23. 1839.
" In foreign lands their humble grave adorned By strangers honored and by strangers mourned."
COLONEL MOSES TITCOMB.
William Titcomb, one of the early settlers of Newbury, is said to have come to New England with his wife, Joan Bart- lett, daughter of Richard Bartlett, Sr., in the ship " Her- cules." He was made a freeman in 1642, and one of the selectmen of the town in 1646. He was also representative to the General Court in 1655.
According to the provisions of the will of Richard Bartlett, printed on page 231 of this book, he bequeathed " to his daughter Johan, wife of William Titcomb, one pair of new shoes for herselfe, and her four daughters each one a pair of shoes."
Joan (Bartlett) Titcomb died June 28, 1653 ; and Will- iam Titcomb married Elizabeth Stevens, widow of William Stevens, March 3, 1654. Mrs. Stevens' maiden name is sup- posed to have been Bitsfield. The will of Elizabeth Bitsfield, dated Sept. 23, 1669, gives to the children of William Tit- comb £5, to be equally divided among them, and "to my daughter Elizabeth Titcomb £10."
In 1670, the town of Newbury " granted to William Tit- comb and Amos Stickney the little pine swamp to be their propriety, with skirts of the common, provided they make and maintain a sufficient fence about the hole for the safety of the cattle from time to time." Little Pine swamp was on the south side of Oak Hill cemetery, and at the time of the grant was surrounded by common, or undivided, land. The hole that was to be fenced with so much care remains in substantially the same condition as when the grant was made. It is, in fact, a deep depression in the low swampy ground at the foot of Oak Hill, and forms a natural basin for quite a respectable pond that was utilized fifty years ago as a
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source of water supply for one of the manufacturing corpora- tions of Newburyport.
William Titcomb died Sept. 24, 1676. His oldest son (Penuel) by his first wife owned land in the vicinity of Frog pond, near where the Boston & Maine Railroad freight sta- tion now stands. He is named as executor and residuary legatee in his father's will.
One of the sons of William Titcomb, by his second mar- riage, was William, born Aug. 14, 1659. He married Ann Cottle, daughter of William Cottle, May 15, 1683. The Cottles lived in what is now Bromfield Street, formerly Cottle's lane, and were large owners of land in that vicinity. William Titcomb, Jr., and Ann (Cottle) Titcomb, his wife, had eleven children, among them a son Moses, who died young ; and July 8, 1707, another son Moses, who lived to be an officer in the colonial army under Sir William Pep- perell at the siege of Louisburg, and afterward a colonel under General Johnson at the battle of Lake George.
Nov. 23, 1728, Moses Titcomb notified the town clerk of Newbury of his intended marriage to Merriam Currier, of Amesbury. The marriage ceremony was performed Dec. 19, 1728, by Rev. Edmond Marsh, of Amesbury. Merriam Currier, the daughter of Richard and Dorothy Currier, was born April 10, 1711. The children of Moses and Merriam (Currier) Titcomb were as follows : -
Anne, born Oct. 5, 1729; married Joseph Wilcomb.
Hannah, born in August, 1731 ; married Ebenezer Greenleaf Dec. 21, 1760.
Merriam, born Jan. 4, 1732-3 ; married Nicholas Tracy.
Moses, born Feb. 20, 1734-5 ; married Phebe (Marsh ?).
Lois, born Nov. 2, 1736; died in 1743.
Mary, born March 13, 1742; married Robert Rogers Oct. 15, 1761.
Lois, born Sept. 18, 1750; married Andrew Frothingham April Io, I772.
Abigail, born in November, 1752; baptized Nov. 19, 1752.
Nicholas, born July 23, 1754; baptized July 28, 1754.
During the French and English War, Moses Titcomb, imbued with the military spirit of the times, enlisted in the
COL. MOSES TITCOMB.
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COLONEL MOSES TITCOMB
service, and, holding the rank of major, was present at the capture of Louisburg June 16, 1745. From memoranda transcribed at the war office in London, England, and pub- lished in the register of the Society of Colonial Wars, Boston, Mass., 1895, it appears that Feb. 7, 1744-5, Moses Titcomb was commissioned, by the crown, captain of the Third company and major of the Fifth Massachusetts regi- ment.
The second volume of "A Half-Century of Conflict," by Francis Parkman, has a map showing the position of Colonel Titcomb's battery at the siege of Louisburg ; and on page 124 the author says : ---
The West Gate, the principal gate of Louisbourg, opened upon the tract of high, firm ground that lay on the left of the besiegers, between the marsh and the harbor, an arm of which here extended westward beyond the town, into what was called the Barachois, a salt pond formed by a projecting spit of sand. On the side of the Barachois, farthest from the town, was a hillock on which stood the house of an habitant named Martissan. Here, on the 20th of May, a fifth battery was planted, consisting of two of the French forty-two pounders taken in the Grand Battery, to which three others were afterwards added. Each of these heavy pieces was dragged to its destination by a team of three hundred men over rough and rocky ground swept by the French artillery. This fifth battery, called the Northwest, or Titcomb's, proved most destructive to the fortress.
Thomas Hutchinson, who was governor of Massachusetts from 1771 until the arrival of General Gage in May, 1774, on page 374 of the second volume of his History of the Province of Massachusetts, says, with reference to the siege and capture of Louisburg : -
A constant fire was kept from the grand battery upon the town with the forty-two pounders. This greatly damaged the houses, but caused so great an expense of powder that it was thought advisable to stop and reserve it for the fascine batteries. Five of these were erected, the last on the 20th of May, called Titcomb's battery, with five forty-two pounders which did as great execution as any.
The following letters, written by Major Moses Titcomb while engaged in the service of the king, under Sir William
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Pepperell, for the reduction of the fortifications at Louis- burg, have been carefully preserved, and are now in the possession of Mr. Alfred W. Lord, of Newburyport, who is a descendant of Joseph Titcomb to whom they were addressed : -
CANSO, Aprel 23ª, 1745.
Loveing Brother,-Haveing this opportunity, I Redaly Imbrace it to Let you kno that threw The Goodness of god to me & my Company we arived In this port Aprel 5th & found our Comador & a Numbor of our Transports with him. But Not all; But thay are all arived Sence. We Injoy a good State of helth threw out the Entire Fleet & Army. My Company are all in good helth & hope theas Lines will find you and your family by the Same. We have had the good fortin of haveing takeing two Briganteans & one sloop from ye French laden with Rhum, Molases, & other goods which ye Admarel have taken ye greates part for ye use of ye army, & Fited out one of ye Briggs for a privit teare, (viz.) that which Capt Dalton & I Sold to ye French. Heare is arived this Day to our greate Joy Comadore woren with fore Men of war with him. When Joynd with our Ships, will Make Such an apearance at Louis Berg yt It will Make them Soon Strik to us. We are to Sail at two of ye Clock to morrow morning, and Pray God to Send us a good pasage theire & Cover My hed in ye Day of Batel, and give me Suck Ses over my Enemys, which is, I trust, your prayer for me. Remember my Cind Love to my wife & children & all other Frends. I Remain your Loveing Brother.
MOSES TITCOMB.
Being in a greate hurey I
could write No more at presant.
To Capt Joseph Titcomb In Newbury.
LOUISBURG, August 5th, 1745.
Loveing Brother,- I now wright you a few Lines to Inform you That threw the aboundant goodness of God I injoy a good State of helth, which Blessing I have been favord with Ever Sencs I Left you. I Recd a Letter from you Sum time ago, & am Rejoysd to here that you & your family ware in good helth, But am verey Sorrey to here of your two Sons in Laws Being Taken By ye Enemy. I hope it will Not Be Long Befor thay will Be Returnd from theire Captivity again. It is a Time of General Helth among us & few Dies, Considring ye Numbor of our Army. The Solgars groes uneasy on account of theire Being here So Long; But more Espasly for fere thay Shall Be fors'd to Stay here all wintor. But for my part I have No Reason to think But that my
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COLONEL MOSES TITCOMB
Company will Be Releas'd, this fawl The Gonaral was So good as to offer me ye command of Canso to Supply the place of Capt. Cutter, who is Sent from here to ansor to Sumthing allegd against him. But I Declined it. How Ever about 14 of my men are a going under the Com- mand of Cool Eveleth By theire one Corps, haveing a promise to Be Dismisd in a bout three weeks. But your Son hes more witt then to Be one of that Number; for I Do not think thay will Be Releasd any Sooner then the Rest of my men will Be, & as to my Staying here all wintor I Shall Not Comply with it unles It Be on good Termes. But, If I Should Conclude to Remain in the King's sarvis, I shall Coome home this fawl. Our men of war have had a Greate Suckses Befoure & Sents we Tuke this Sitty, But more Espasly ye Latar; for thay have Taken two East India Ships verey Richly Laden & one Regastor ship Laden Cheafly with Muney, Said to Be woth foure or five hundred Thousand pounds Starlin, So that muney & goods are very plenty here, & those that have any thing to By with will make it Do well. We have Lately herd from New England that ye Indians are Broke out & Dun Sum Considerabel Damige, which I am verey Sorrey to here. We have Lately herd from Canaday by a prise vesel yt Cap: Fletcher Tuke Laden with provisions that a greate Number of French Beside Indians ware Raisd & going on an Expedition against Sum of our Settelments In New England, &, If So, I am afrade the Consequence will Be Bad. However, God have Been on our Side in the greate victory we have gaind over our Enemys in this place, & hope he will Continu to Be gracous & prospor us in all our Lawfull undertakeings. Remembor my Love to Sistor & to all your children, & Tel them your Son is in good helth. Remembor my Love to my wife & Children & all my Brothers & Sistors. I Remain your Loveing Brother Til Deth.
MOSES TITCOMB.
P : S .- Give my Sarvis To Mr Morgridg & wife, & tel them I am verey Sorrey to hear of the Deth of theire Son Simeon, & pray that god would pleas To Santify his Deth to them & theire Family.
For Capt Joseph Titcomb
In Newbury New England.
Two brothers of Moses Titcomb, Joseph and Benjamin (twins), were born March 30, 1698. Joseph, to whom the above letters were addressed, married Ann Smith Oct. 4, 1721. He died July 25, 1785. His eldest son, Henry, born in 1723, married Mary Titcomb, daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth Titcomb, Feb. 5, 1746-7.
Enoch, born Dec. 6, 1752, was the eldest son of Henry
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and Mary Titcomb. He married March II, 1778, Ann Jones, daughter of Ephraim and Mary Jones, of Portland, Me. He was a brigade major under General Sullivan in Rhode Island. His commission was dated " Boston, July 3, 1778." He was also a member of the convention that formed the State constitution, and was afterward representa- tive to the General Court and State senator for several years. He was treasurer of the town of Newburyport from 1784 to 1810, and town clerk from 1790 to 1796. He died Aug. 13, 1814.
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