USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > The biographical sketches of prominent persons, and the genealogical records of many early and other families in Medway, Mass. 1713-1886 > Part 6
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RESIDENCE OF DR. JOHN S. FOLSOM.
Oct. 10, 1843, in New England Village, Mass. Mrs. Folsom was a lady of rare personal charms, attractive and graceful in manners, and of great loveli- ness of character. She died Feb. 17, 1SS3, in the very bloom of woman- hood, and universally lamented.
REV. CALVIN RICHARDS FITTS.
CALVIN RICHARDS FITTS, son of Charles H. and Emeline A. (Rich- ards) Fits, was born Feb. 10, IS40, in West Medway. His youth was spent in Rockville, Medway. He pursued his preparatory studies in the academy in Monson, Mass., and graduated in 1864 from Amherst College, Massachusetts. His . theological studies were pursued in the seminary in Chicago, Ill., from which he graduated in 1866. He ministered a few months to the Congregational Church in Harvard, Ill. Returning East he was ordained Sept. 5, 1866, in Medfield, and labored for a year with the - Congregational Church in South Braintree, Mass. In IS6S he was installed pastor of the Second Congregational Church in Cohasset, Mass. He re- signed in 1870 and removed to Slatersville, R. I., and ministered to the Con- gregational Church there for eleven years, until April 1, ISSI. He then re- sided for a short period in West Quincy, and was called to the supply of the pulpit in Sudbury, Mass., in the spring of ISS3, to which place he removed the 26th of September to minister permanently, when he was taken ill, and died suddenly Oct. 10, 1SS3. The Rev. Mr. Fitts married, Feb. 10, 1869, Helen F. Trask, daughter of Theodore Trask, Esq., of Quincy, Mass. The children were : Arthur Richards, born Dec. 23, 1869; Ernest Vinton, born
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March 9, IS72 ; Charles Theodore, born April 4, 1875, died Nov. 6, 1878 ; Gertrude Augusta, born Dec. 21, 1876, died Jan. 9, ISSo ; Walter Mansfield, born April 26, ISSI.
ASA METCALF BLAKE FULLER, EsQ.
ASA METCALF BLAKE FULLER, son of Asa and Hephzibah (Blake) Fuller, was born May 17, 1813, in Franklin, Mass. His early education was secured during about eight weeks of school yearly, until old enough to learn a trade. He first learned the cabinet trade in Holliston. Subsequently he learned the art of a jeweler, and from 1840 to the present, ISS5, has pros- ecuted this business in West Medway. Mr. Fuller is one of the longest resident and most useful citizens of the town. He was for many years town clerk and treasurer. He also served as collector and selectman. He has ever taken a lively interest in public affairs, and for a long period has been a prominent member of the Second Church of Christ and devoted to its wel- fare. Mr. Fuller was a member of the committee appointed to prepare THE HISTORY OF MEDWAY, and rendered valuable assistance to the editor.
ELIHU SANFORD FULLER, ESQ.
ELIHU SANFORD FULLER, son of Elihu and Rhoda (Daniels) Fuller, was born May 25, 1824, in East Medway. Mr. Fuller was educated in the schools of his native town, where he settled and followed the business of a butcher for many years and was proprietor of a meat market. For twenty- seven years he was the Captain of the Niagara Fire Engine Company No. 4, and served two years on the board of selectmen of Medway, and was chosen, in ISS5, to fill a vacancy in the first board of selectmen in the town of Millis.
REV. AMORY GALE, M. D.
AMORY GALE, son of Major Amory and Lucinda (Rich) Gale, was born Oct. 15, 1Soo, in Warwick, Mass. His grandfather, Jonathan Gale, was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and a man of sterling traits of character. Major Amory Gale, his father, was a blacksmith and a manu- facturer of edged tools, a man of intelligence and moral worth. His mother was a lineal descendant of Sir Richard Rich, Lord High Chancellor of Eng- land under Edward VI., and the Earl of Warwick. Mrs. Gale's father was a farmer, and owned a large grist mill. It is said of him that when a scarcity of corn prevailed, having a large quantity on hand, he declined to sell it to speculators at an advanced price, but allowed his townsmen to pur- chase it at the usual price of corn when it was plentiful, for he said : " I do not wish to enrich myself at the expense of my neighbors." The subject of this sketch had the advantages of an academic education, was for a time engaged in teaching, and then studied medicine with Dr. Taylor, of Warwick, and Dr. Batchelder, of Royalston, Mass. In the fall of 1823 he went to attend medical lectures in Hanover, N. H. The faculty considered him so far gone with consumption that they would not receive from him the usual matricu- lation fee, and plainly said to him : .. Young man, you will be in your grave before the spring flowers blossom." But he was determined to disappoint
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them. He took to horse-back riding and vigorous exercise in the open air, and long outlived his medical teachers. He completed the course of lectures and attended a second course in the Medical School of Brown University, Rhode Island, where he received in IS24 the degree of M. D., his thesis at graduation receiving special mention for excellence. Prior to entering upon the study of medicine, Mr. Gale had a strong desire to enter the Christian ministry, but his ill-health forbade it. Dr. Gale married Martha Leland, of Warwick, Mass., whose mother was a native of East Medway. Mrs. Gale had been a teacher in the public schools for some years at the time of her mar- riage. Dr. Gale practiced medicine in Barre, Mass., in Amherst, N. H., and in South Scituate, Mass. He often gave lectures on scientific subjects. He was a pioneer in the temperance cause, and, by lecturing, by writing, and by personal appeals, did much to promote this reform. His principal purpose in locating at South Scituate was that he might study theology with the Rev. Samuel J. May, who was at that time pastor of the Unitarian Church in that town. He was ordained as an evangelist in Kingston, Mass. In 1844 he preached in East Bridgewater, Mass., Southington, Conn., and Pembroke, Mass., then became the pastor of the Unitarian Church in Nor- ton, Mass., where for four years he labored with success. He then was called to Barnstable, Mass., and when about to remove his family to that place he was stricken with bronchitis, and was compelled to give up his chosen life work. He resumed medicine as a homeopathist, and had a large practice in Woonsocket, R. I. After a few years, worn by professional labors, in the autumn of 1853, he purchased a farm in East Medway to which he removed, and there spent the remainder of his life. The Rev. Adin Ballou, in writing of him " as a philanthropist and moral reformer," says: "The causes of temperance, anti-slavery, peace, and every movement in favor of human progress found his bosom open, warm, and responsive. He was among the pioneers of all these reforms, and breasted the storms of reproach which out- spoken testimony in their behalf provoked in former times, with unflinching moral heroism. He was their devoted friend and advocate when it cost something to be so. The same characteristics marked his career in every development of progress which startled the popular prejudice. His honest and manly nature demanded to know, not what was established in conserva- tive public opinion or interest, but what was true, what was right. For this he searched fearlessly, and once convinced he had found it, bravely took his stand on its side." "As a physician," he adds, " he was remarkable for his intuitive insight into the causes and remedies of' disease, for the soothing and inspiring influence which he carried with him into the sick chamber, and for the confidence which his benign sympathies and counsels excited in the minds of his patients. He was physician both to their bodies and souls." It can truly be said of Dr. Gale that whatever he did, he did well. While always modest and unassuming in demeanor, and humble in his own esteem, he performed many acts of private benevolence and rare kindness, known only to those benefited by them. His long, busy life, full of faithful service to humanity, was fitly closed with brightest anticipations of the life above. He died Feb. 20, 1873, after a long and distressing illness, which he bore with great patience and resignation. He was buried in Warwick, Mass.
Mrs. Caroline R. James, eldest daughter of Dr. Gale, upon the death of
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her husband in 1874, prepared herself for the Gospel ministry, and was or- dained in 1878, being the third woman ordained to the ministry within the Unitarian denomination. She was first settled as pastor of the Unitarian Church in Brooklyn, Conn., and continued there until ISSI, when she took charge of a society in Francestown, N. H. Miss Martha L. Gale, the second daughter of Dr. Gale, became a teacher in Clinton Seminary, Coopers- town, N. Y., and in Dean Academy, Franklin, Mass. She also wrote for the press, and gave private instruction in the French language.
Miss Mary K. Gale studied medicine and was a successful practitioner in Wollaston, Mass. James A. Gale, the only son of Dr. Gale, graduated in 1861 from the Homeopathic Medical College, Cleveland, O. He settled in West Medway and was a well known and skillful physician.
REV. JOHN HARPER GARMAN.
JOHN HARPER GARMAN, son of Joseph and Ann B. (Leach) Garman, was born Jan. 20, ISII, in Meredith Bridge, now Laconia, N. H. He mar- ried, March 1, 1840, Elizabeth Bullard, daughter of Nathan Bullard, of Med- way. They taught a year in North Carolina and returned in 1842. He entered the Theological Seminary in Andover, Mass., from which he graduated in I845. Ile was the acting pastor two years, 1846 and 1847, in Baldwin, Me. Nov. 3, 1847, he was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational Church in Lemington, Me., where he remained until 1855. He then labored five years in Scarborough, Me., and was pastor from 1860 to 1865 in Lebanon, Me. He then removed to North Orange, Mass., where he ministered to the Congregational Church for eight years. He afterward preached in Shutes- bury and Warwick, but in ISS5 resided in North Orange, Mass. His min- istry was greatly blessed to the churches where he preached and his labors were attended with many conversions. The Rev. and Mrs. Garman had three children : Mary E., born Feb. 25, 1849, married Dec. 1, 1868, Zina H. Goodell ; Charles E., born Dec. IS, IS50, married Sept. 24, 1882, Eliza N. Miner ; Frederic H., born May 15, 1857. Charles E. Garman graduated in IS72 from Amherst College, Amherst, Mass., and in 1879 from Yale Theo- logical Seminary. He. was appointed Professor of Moral and Intellectual Philosophy in Amherst College, which position he now fills. The youngest son graduated in ISS5 from Amherst College.
REV. AND HON. BENJAMIN GREENE.
BENJAMIN GREENE, son of Benjamin Greene, was born May 5, 1764, in Waltham, Mass. He graduated in 1784 from Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., and entered the Gospel ministry. The Rev. Mr. Greene was settled as colleague pastor with the Rev. Nathan Bucknam over the First Church of Christ in Medway, where he continued five years. Vid. THE CHURCHES. He married Lydia Clark, a daughter of the Rev. Jonas Clark, of Lexington, Mass. It is said of the Rev. Mr. Clark that his Sunday public prayers were sometimes two hours long, his sermon never less than one hour, and some- times three hours. Mrs. Greene's mother was a cousin of Gov. John Han- cock, who, with Samuel Adams, was at her father's house on the morning of
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April 19, 1775. After the retreat of the British on that day eight of her father's beloved parishioners lay dead on the ground directly under the win- dows of the meeting-house. Three of Mrs. Greene's sisters married minis- ters, viz., the Rev. T. Fiske, D. D., the Rev. Dr. Harris, and the Rev. Dr. Ware. The Rev. Mr. Greene after leaving Medway resided for a few years in Marblehead, Mass., but removed in 1798 to Berwick, Me. For a time he was the Preceptor of the Berwick Academy. He then read law, was admitted to the bar, and was in the practice of his profession for some years. Subsequently he held the appointment of a judge and rose to emi- nence in the state. He was also United States Marshal for the District of Maine. His sons were educated and entered the professions of law and medi- cine. The Rev. and Hon. Benjamin Greene died in 1837, in Berwick, Me.
CLARENCE E. GRIFFIN, EsQ.
CLARENCE E. GRIFFIN, son of Enoch and Irene (Eaton) Griffin, was born Dec. 22, 1852, in Cornwallis, N. S. His parents were of a New England ancestry. His great-grandfather was Eli Griffin, of Stamford, Conn. In early boyhood Mr. Griffin worked on his father's farm in the summer and attended school in the winter. When eighteen years old he commenced teaching the winter term of school. Three years later he began to prepare for college, and September, 1875, entered Acadia College in Wolfville, King's County, N. S. He remained out one year, and graduated in ISSo. He taught for a year, and in ISSI entered Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Mass., where he remained through the winter, and taught school in Franklin and Medfield while pursuing his legal studies under G. W. Wig- gin, Esq., of Franklin. He was admitted, Oct. 6, ISS5, to the Norfolk County Bar, and opened a law office in Medway and in Franklin. Mr. Griffin by his scholarly attainments, his Christian character, and genial manners has already made certain the respect, the confidence and favorable opinion of the community, and his success in his chosen profession it is easy to predict.
REV. SEWALL HARDING.
SEWALL HARDING, son of Capt. John and Beulah (Metcalf) Harding, was born March 20, 1793, in Medway, Mass. He pursued his preparatory studies somewhat under the instruction of the Rev. Luther Wright, and during this period he became a Christian and united, May 30, 1813, with the same church of which he was to become, twenty-five years later, the revered pastor. Mr. Harding graduated in ISIS from Union College, New York. He studied theology with the Rev. Drs. Emmons and Ide, and was ordained and installed Jan. 17, 1821, pastor of the First Congregational Church, Waltham, Mass. During his ministry in that town a division of the church occurred, and the Rev. Mr. Harding was pastor of the so-called Trinitarian Congregational Church. After a ministry in Waltham of sixteen years, the Rev. Mr. Harding was called and settled as pastor of the First Church of Christ in his native town, where he labored very successfully from 1837 to 1851, when he retired from the pastorate and became the Secretary of the Congregational Board of Publication, which office he filled until 1863,
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having his residence in Auburndale, Mass. The last fifteen years of his life he retired from public duties. His death occurred April 12, 1876, and his burial took place from the First Church of Christ in Medway, and he was interred in the old cemetery of his native town. The Rev. Mr. Harding was faithful, laborious, and successful in his profession, sprightly and social in his daily intercourse, a Hopkinsonian in theology, a very vigorous advo- cate of sound doctrine, an abolitionist in the very start of that movement, and a warm-hearted philanthropist. He cheerfully gave his two daughters to the work of Foreign Missions. Mrs. Harding was also a native of Medway ; she died Feb. 3, 1877, and was buried by the side of her husband.
REV. JOHN WHEELER HARDING.
JOHN WHEELER HARDING, son of the Rev. Sewall and Eliza (Wheeler) Harding, was born Oct. 12, IS21, in Waltham, Mass. He removed in 1837 to Medway, now Millis, when a lad, his father becoming the pastor of the First Church of Christ. He graduated in 1845, from Yale College, New Haven, Conn., and in 1848 from the Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. The Rev. Mr. Harding was ordained, and installed, Jan. 1, 1850, the pastor of the Congregational Church, Long Meadow, Mass., where he is still ful- filling a long-continued and very useful ministry.
REV. RUFUS KENDRICK HARLOW.
RUFUS KENDRICK HARLOW, son of Branch and Lurany (Keith) Har- low, was born March 28, 1834, in Middleboro, Mass. He was educated in the schools and prepared for college in the Pierce Academy of his native town. In 1865 he graduated from Amherst College, and in 186S from the Theological Seminary, Bangor, Me. Mr. Harlow was ordained to the Gos- pel ministry Oct. 15, 1868, in Middleboro, Mass. He was engaged as a stated supply by the St. Lawrence Street Church in Portland, Me., where he labored for more than a year. He then went to Belfast, Me., and was a stated supply for the First Congregational Church during some thirteen months, when he received a call to the pastorate of the Evangelical Congre- tional Church as a colleague pastor with the Rev. David Sanford. The call was accepted, and Mr. Harlow was duly installed Feb. 13, 1872. Under his ministry, which is still continued, the "Village Church," so called, has prospered, and the atttachments of pastor and people have become very strong. Mr. Harlow prepared various biographical sketches and discourses which were published. His ability as a preacher and fidelity as a pastor are universally acknowledged.
REV. JOEL HAWES, D. D.
JOEL HAWES, son of Ichabod and Keziah (Mann) Hawes, was born Dec. 22, 1789, in the old Barber house, on Village Street, which occupied the site of the late residence of William H. Cary, Esq. The house is now owned by Mr. William B. Hodges. The ancestors of Dr. Joel Hawes were among the early settlers of New England. They came from Lincolnshire, England, and settled in that part of Dedham which in 1673 became Wren-
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tham, Mass. The Medway branch of the family came from Brookfield, Mass. The Rev. Dr. Hawes had a brother, Lewis Hawes, who lived and died upon the place now owned by Mr. Chadwick, on Village Street. He says of himself : "I was a wild, heady, reckless youth, delighting in hunting, fish- ing, trapping, and in rough athletic sports, which tended to invigorate my constitution, but added nothing to my mental or moral improvement." At the age of fourteen, his father returned to Brookfield. Here Joel had still fewer advantages for improvement, living three and a half miles from church and two from any school. He went in a few years to visit two uncles and seek his fortune in Vermont. He there learned the cloth dressing trade, and in 1806 he came back to Medway and was employed by Mr. George Barber, who had purchased the old homestead and was a clothier. He says he was here brought into bad company and spent much time in dissipation and card playing. He was, however, ambitious to earn money, and chopped wood by moonlight to increase his little store. He attended church for the first time in two years. The thought that he had desecrated the Sabbath awakened by that Sunday service, "pierced him like an arrow of the Almighty that drinketh up the spirit." Among his associates in Medway was Cyrus Kings- bury, afterward a missionary to the Choctaws, who was learning the cabinet maker's trade of Maj. Luther Metcalf. Young Kingsbury, while mowing on the Fairbanks lot, started a rabbit and rushing to catch him came in con- tact with his scythe and cut a main artery in one leg so that he came near bleeding to death. Hawes watched with him, and his pious resignation and conversation is supposed to have confirmed him in his purpose of a new life. He entered Brown University in ISog, and in ISIo taught school in Medway, at eighteen dollars per month. He kept a diary, and he writes Jan. 5, 18II : "Dined with Esquire Sanford by invitation and was very liberally received by him and Mrs. Sanford." He writes out in full the cards of invitation received and sent, which, though agreeable to fashion, were . evidently not to his taste as he disliked all mere conventionalisms, as he then regarded them. He taught the next winter, and says his "residence in Med- way has been pleasant and in many respects profitable." He was here in the midst of the great excitement occasioned by the introduction of cotton spinning and its attendant industries and he says, " the people are apparently in the very last stages of the hectic of avarice. They are rapidly increasing wealth and as rapidly do they grow in the love of it." He graduated in 1813 from Brown University, Rhode Island, studied theology in Andover, was duly licensed, supplied the pulpits in Newburyport, was afterwards called and ordained, March 4, ISIS, pastor of the First Church in Hartford, Conn. He married, June 17, ISIS, Miss Louisa Fisher, daughter of William C. and Lois (Mason) Fisher, of Wrentham, who, upon her mother's side, ·was a descendant in direct line from John Mason, who came in the May Flower in 1620, from England. Dr. Hawes' pastorate continued forty-four years from 1818 to 1862, and added to his church 1,6SI persons. Among them were thirty-seven candidates for the Christian ministry, seven of whom became missionaries, who with other lay workers from the church numbered in all thirty-five. The number of his printed publications were fifty-one. The other Congregational churches in Hartford were largely composed of colonists from his own. Whether Dr. Hawes was a great man or not is a
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question which some answer in one way and some in another. He made good proof of his ministry ; was always a power in Hartford and accom- plished great results, and has gone to his reward. He was always interested in Medway Village, and was much pleased to be invited to preach the sermon at the dedication of the Village Church, June 15, 1838. He remarked " that looking upon the hills over the river he was reminded of the wildness and wickedness of his youth." He was the reckless son of a rough, intemperate man. The Rev. Dr. Hawes continued pastor of the First Church in Hart- ford, Conn., until his death, which occurred June 5, 1867, in Gilead, Conn. His monument, a horizontal sarcophagus facing the east and overlooking the city of Hartford, in Cedar Hill Cemetery, is inscribed as follows :
" REV. JOEL HAWES, D. D.,
TENTH PASTOR OF THE CHURCH AND FIRST ECCLESIASTICAL SOCIETY OF HARTFORD.
Born at Medway, Mass., Dec. 22, 1789. Died at Gilead, Conn., Fune 5, 1867."
The most enduring inscription is in the traditions and upon the very hearts of the people of Hartford. Drs. Hawes and Bushnell were twin pillars upon which rested, for a generation, the religious life of Hartford.
REV. EPHRAIM NELSON HIDDEN.
EPHRAIM NELSON HIDDEN, son of Ephraim and Dorothy (Remick) . Hidden, was born Aug. 28, ISIo, in Tamworth, N. H. He was the eldest of four sons in a family of six children. When a lad of thirteen years his father met a sudden death by drowning. In this exigency great care and responsibility fell upon the oldest boy, and although a mere stripling he gave himself with unsparing energy to what seemed to rest on his young shoulders. Besides doing what he could for his family he prepared for college in Phillips Academy, Exeter, and graduated in 1836 with high classical honors from Dartmouth College, Hanover, N. H. Among his classmates were the Rev. E. E. Adams, D. D., the Hon. James W. Grimes, Governor of Iowa and United States Senator, Prof. Edward R. Peaslee, M. D., the Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, the Rev. Samuel C. Bartlett, D. D., President of Dartmouth College, and many other men of honorable dis- tinction. Mr. Hidden ranked high in scholarship and upon graduation was appointed Principal of Gilmanton Academy, New Hampshire, which posi- tion he filled for four years, meanwhile pursuing his theological studies. He was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and installed, September, IS41, pastor of the Congregational Church in Deerfield, N. H. After a useful ministry of eight years he was called to a larger field of service. He was installed, Nov. 21, IS49, over the Congregational Church in Milford, N. H. His ministry in Milford was attended with large accessions to the church and his congregation was one of the largest in the State. Leaving Milford he labored in Derry, Candia. and Great Falls, N. H. His last settlement was in Middleboro, Mass., although for five years, while resident in Medway, he statedly supplied the Congregational Church in Norfolk, Mass. He completed about forty years of Gospel service, closing his public ministry only with his death, which occurred Nov. 28, ISSO. He preached on Sun-
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day two sermons, returned home, and ere the coming of the morning sun he had gone to be with his blessed Lord. He had resided in Medway but a few years and in the retirement of a small farm, but had won all hearts to himself, so that his death was widely lamented. The youngest daughter and only surviving child, a young lady of rare gifts and intellectual culture, Emily Parsons Hidden, died April 1, 1SS2, and Mrs. Hidden soon after re- moved to Chester, N. H.
. REV. CALVIN GROUT HILL.
CALVIN GROUT HILL, son of George and Sylvia (Grout) Hill, was born May 10, 1842, in Elmore, Vt. He came to Medway in 1845, graduated at Medway High School, prepared for college in Andover and Wilbraham, was graduated at Amherst College, class of 1867, receiving the degree of A. B. From Amherst he went to Attleboro, Mass., as Principal of the East High School, in which he attained a good reputation as an instructor. Leaving Attleboro he entered the Theological Seminary, Bangor, Me., graduated in the class of 1871. During the last year of the seminary course he was "stated supply" of the Congregational Church in Dexter, Me., preached afterwards for nine months at Waterville, Me. ; declined a call there and ac- cepted one at Hamilton, Mass., at which place he was ordained Sept. 5, 1872. From Hamilton he was called to Walpole, Mass. ; installed Sept. 27, 1876. He remained pastor of this church somewhat more than five years, during four of which he was chairman of the board of school committee. Be- ing dismissed from his pastorate in Walpole Aug. 1, 1881, he accepted a call to the First Evangelical Church in Milton, Mass., and was installed Feb. S, 1882, where he has also been for a number of years a member of the board of school committee. Dec. 1, IS6S, he married Miss Mary A. B. Reed, daughter of Dea. G. B. Reed, of Rehoboth, Mass. To them were born in Waterville, Nov. 16, 1871, a son, William Reed Hill, and at Hamil- ton, May 28, 1874, a daughter, Grace Annie Hill.
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