USA > Maine > Piscataquis County > Dover-Foxcroft > Old Foxcroft, Maine : traditions and memories, with family records > Part 3
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In recording the limited conveniences in the homes of these first set- tlers, it has been stated, that one family of four daughters had only one needle, and a frequent inquiry was, "Where is the needle?". In accepting the truth or falsity of this, we should consider, that at the time that question was asked, the family had just moved in; that there was no store within the town limits, and that spinning and knitting were the principle forms of feminine industry, aside from housework, which was negligible.
The citizens of the young town made haste to organize, that they might be able to use their elective franchises in November and appli- cation was made to Nathaniel Chamberlain Esq. as Justice of the Peace for a warrant to call a town meeting.
The following, is, an authentic copy of the original warrant now before me:
الصور
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OLD FOXCROFT
[L S]
To Samuel Chamberlain one of the Freeholders an Inhabitant of the Town of Foxcroft County of Handcock Greeting You are hereby required in the name of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts to notify and Warn the Inhabitants of the aforesaid town qualified to vote in town meeting to meet at the dwelling house of Mr. Gilman Greely on Monday the thirtyfirst day of the present Mongth at one of the Clock in the afternoon then and there to act upon the follow- ing articles viz
1st To Chose a Moderator to govern sd Meet
2d To Chose a town Clerk
3d To Chose Three or more Selectmen
4th To Chose three or more Assessors
5 To Chose a treasurer
6 To Chose a Collector
7 To Chose a Constable
8 To Chose what other officers thought necessary of to act upon all other necessary business
And you are to make return of this announcement and your doings thereon on or before the said thirtyfirst instand
Hereof fail not
Given under my hand and seal at Plantation No. 3 Range 6 this Fifteenth day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & twelve.
NATH1 CHAMBERLAIN Justice of the Peace
On reverse side is written :
"In obedience of the whithin warrant to me.
Directed, I have notified and warned the Inhabitants qualified to vote in town meeting to appear at the time and place and for the purposes therein expressed.
(Signed) SAMUEL CHAMBERLAIN.
August 18th 1812
With Capt. Samuel Chamberlain's characteristic promptness and business precision, the above warrant was served from Joseph Morse's in Dundee near Sebec Lake, southeast to Eli Towne's now East Dover, and from Moses Towne's near the Sebec Line to Benj. Hearsey's south- west and Wm. Thayer's northwest lots near the Lowestown (Guilford) line.
The legal voters of the town who were to meet for the first time in corporate capacity, accepting and entering upon, the privileges and duties of enfranchised citizens of the Commonwealth, were emigrants from localities far apart. They were comparative strangers to each other; self-reliant, honest, hard working freemen, having fixed opin- ions and widely divergent beliefs.
There was no business center in the settlement, not even a store or shop, within the town limits, where they might gather for social con- verse; no stage or post for outside communication.
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OLD FOXCROFT
In 1805, as we have noted, openings were made, two log cabins erected and plots large enough for gardens cleared, burned over, and fenced in. The following spring, three brave families moved in; then little by little the shaded ground was opened to sunlight, a considerable piece hav- ing been cleared at the mills, bounded on two sides by the river, and extending as far back as Exchange street on the west; and North street to the river bank, behind the building known as the "Opera House." Some fifteen rifts had been made, among rocks in the dense woods, widely scattered, but nevertheless good, embryonic farms. Later, several substantial houses, and a few barns, giving shelter each to a few animals had been erected. Fair sized fields fenced with logs were appearing, producing wheat, corn, rye, flax, clover and certain vegetables.
Most of the houses were of the eighteen by twenty feet variety, one story, hand hewn frame, boarded with four foot shingles; double boarded floors, sanded; a home-made door with ball and socket hinges, and big wooden latch lifted by a string, giving rise to the expres- sion, "Our latchstring is out." The chimney and large open fireplace, built of rocks, clay and wood, was ample and substantial, and today would be considered most ornamental. Usually, the ground floor contained a large general living room with two, perhaps three small bedrooms.
A hanging ladder at one side of the living room did duty as stairs leading to the loft, unfinished and dimly lighted. A trap door, pro- tected the opening. A trusty gun, with flint lock, always rested above the outside door, doing sentinel duty.
The general order of settling seemed to be that after the first summer, a pioneer family could count upon a good supply of corn, rye, a little wheat, potatoes, beans and peas. Corn food was prepared in the form of bread, samp, hominy, hulled corn and hasty pudding. The maple trees furnished the sugar and syrup. But corn seemed to be the staff of life for both man and beast. The cooking was all done by an open fire. Potatoes roasted in the ashes and brushed until clean. Every- day fare was,-breakfast, corn or rye bread, milk porridge, milk or crust coffee. Dinner,-pork and potatoes, some vegetables when they could be grown and perhaps an Indian pudding or pumpkin pie. Supper,-hasty pudding and milk, sometimes maple syrup. Later, pork and beans were often substituted for pork and potatoes. Many of the women had to assist in farm work and do the milking! They cul- tivated the flax which entered largely into the clothing of men and women. They spun and wove its long and strong fibres into shirting etc. Some women raised enough to sell. To do this, they would travel to Bangor on horseback. Those who engaged in such a line of business, had friends along the way, or in Bangor, with whom they visited, thus saving expense of lodging and meals.
After the second year, oxen, cows, pigs and hens were brought in.
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OLD FOXCROFT
As we have seen, the Chandler family, coming as they did through a sparseley settled territory were obliged, the latter part of their journey, to draw their goods and chattels on handsleds. Bridle paths or pos- sibly, a single two wheeled ox cart track were the only means of passage.
From such homes and along such paths as described, on that sultry 31st day of August, 1812, did eighteen men, heads of families, and five young bachelors, each clad in coarse homespun, with heavy leather boots and nankeen shirts, wend their way to Gilman Greeley's house at the mills. Capt. Chamberlain, astride his bay mare, had preceded the others that he might check off those present and, if necessary, "round up" the delinquents. Mr. Gilman Greeley had provided rough benches around two sides of the living room, while Mrs. Greeley and the children had extended social greetings.
A register of voters would have read thus:
Voters .
From
Age Years
Residence
Ephraim Bacon
Charlton, Mass.
36
Site of R. R. station
Adoniram Blake (single)
Paris, Maine
27
Hayes' and Parsons' offices
John Bradbury
Minot,
26
Green farm
Moses Bradbury
28
Daniel Buck
Buckfield, “
25
Fred Chandler farm
William Buck
66
27
Lot So. west Chamberlain
Nathaniel Buck
38
Augustus Chandler farm
James Call
Dresden 66
24
Charles Pratt farm
Nathan Carpenter
Paris
24
Boss farm
Samuel Chamberlain
Charlton, Mass.
28
Benj. Peaks farm
John Chandler
Minot,
Maine
31
Averill Place New Sweden Lot No. 4 in 3rd range
Gilman Greeley
Gilmanton,
24
Chase Studio
Benj. Hearsey
Sumner, Maine
27
Charles Towne farm
- West 1/2 Orin Dunham farm
Timothy Hutchinson
Sutton, Mass.
42
Lot No. 3, 1st range
Joseph Morse
Hopkinton, “
37
Dundee
Joel Pratt
Clarksburg, Vt.
36
River Rd., west of R. R. tracks
Eliphalet Washburn
New Gloucester, Me.
23
Whittier farm
Jesse Washburn
26
Eberhardt farm
William Thayer (single)
Paris,
23
Wiles farm
Eli Towne
Temple, N. H.
38 East Dover
Moses Towne
35 East half O. C. Dunham farm.
David Colby
Norridgewock, “
John Dow (single)
Dover, N. H.
This made a settlement of approximately eighty-five souls. Samuel Chamberlain was quick in calling order and at once read the warrant; whereupon Joel Pratt was chosen Moderator, immediately taking over the business.
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OLD FOXCROFT
Officers elected were:
Clerk-John Bradbury
Selectmen and Assessors-Joel Pratt, Samuel Chamberlain and William Thayer
Treasurer-Nathan Carpenter
Collector-Nathaniel Buck
Sheriff-Nathaniel Buck
Tithing man-John Chandler, Jr.
Highway Surveyors-Eliphalet Washburn and William Buck Voted to raise $250.00 for the support of roads
25.00 to defray expenses of Town Officers, to be paid in grain.
During the summer of 1812, many were the anxieties and perplexities of those people, buttoned in that little pocket in the dense northern forest. The War of 1812, and the Indian scare, are matters of par- ticular historical interest, ably considered in a. class by themselves. As also the climatic conditions during. a few years following. The hardships experienced in Foxcroft, perhaps, being more than doubled beyond those experienced by neighboring settlements, by reason of lack of roads and bridges, always having to ford or ferry across the river to get out of town.
The immense unpopulated area to the north of the town menacing it, both as to Indians, wild animals and fire.
Early in the spring of 1813, the town was cast into gloom, by the sud- den death of John Chandler, Jr., killed by a falling tree. This was. the first death in the settlement, and Chandler was yet a young man. A quiet, unassuming fellow, he had devoted himself to the best interests and advancement of pioneer life, possessing, in a marked degree, the Pilgrim spirit of his ancestors.
Born in Ducksborough (now Duxbury) in the Plymouth Bay Colony, in a house from whose windows one's eyes took in the weather worn house of his maternal ancestor, the broad acres of the gallant Myles Standish, the vine clad home of his paternal ancestor, and across the bay the memorialized rock of the Pilgrims, John Chandler controlled a wealth of knowledge, hitherto unknown to many in the young settle- ment. He was a grandson, in the fourth generation removed, of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens, names endeared to every American by our own venerated and beloved poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, him- self a kinsman of young Chandler.
Old Foxcroft can well be proud of that young pioneer, the clang of whose ax first startled the wild animals and sent them racing north- ward; the strength of whose sinews removed the rocks and tilled the soil to bring forth the first produce; and whose very name should be an inspiration, stimulus and reverence to any who may hear it.
His wife and children continued to reside in the modest framed house by which he had replaced the rude log cabin of 1805, until about
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OLD FOXCROFT
1816 as the highway surveyor's books for that district for 1813-16 con- tain the "Widdow Chandler's" name and tax assessment. Indeed in 1814, Eliphalet Washburn, the surveyor credited the "Widdow Chandler" with having "overworked her tax" to the amount of $4.60.
The farm later was known as the Major Crooker farm and at pres- ent as the Averill Place. The house stood on the site of the present one and was destroyed by fire in the early '80s.
Phineas Chandler, a younger brother of John Jr. came to Foxcroft from Minot in 1813. He was a resident and owned considerable prop- erty in town for several years but eventually returned to Minot and the John Chandler Jr. branch ceased to exist in town, though descend- ents of his cousins still reside in Foxcroft.
At the annual Town meeting in January 1813 held at the dwelling house of Gilman Greely, it was voted : "to raise $100.00 to erect a build- ing to be known as the 'Town House' to be used for purposes of schools, religious and town meetings." It was located on lot #11 in the 1st. range, very nearly on the site of the present Charles E. Washburn home. " The nearest houses to it were Gilman Greeley's, now the site of the Chase Studio; Ephraim Bacon's, on the site of the railway sta- tion; Joel Pratt's on the River road to Guilford, now a knoll just west of the railway crossing and Wm. Buck's and Samuel Chamberlain's now the Benj. Peaks farm. A central place, indeed, for a school house, in a town having forty-three children, under twenty and over five years of age !
It was also voted to raise $125.00 for the support of schools and $600.00 for highways. The first money voted to be expended on Roads was used for the road running from Greeley's mills west to the Lows- town line, to be known as the "River Road". Work was commenced on it early in the summer of 1814. It was, perhaps, a form of gesture to the Lowstown people to extend it through their plantation and so give Foxcroft an exit to the southwest. It was so carried out in 1815. Also the road over the hills by the four Corners-from the Sebec line to the Guilford line, known as the "County road."
On April 28, 1813, the community was again saddened by another accident, the death of Moses Bradbury by drowning. He had been asked to take a woman across the river to Plantation #3 in the 6th. range, as Dover was then spoken of. In reaching the landing, he found the boat had been taken down to the mill. He went for it, but in trying to bring it up, he proved himself too much of a novice, and the current swept him over the dam. Two weeks later his body was found.
Although Mr. Moses Bradbury had been a resident but little over a year, by his public spirit and high sense of honor, he had taken a strong hold upon his townsmen, and his death was keenly felt by all. He was a great, great grandson of Thomas Bradbury, born at Wicken- Bonant, Essex, England, who came first to Agamenticus, near York
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Maine in 1634. Later he became one of the original proprietors of Salisbury Massachusetts, where he married, in 1636, Mary, born in England, the daughter of John and Judith Perkins, later of Ipswich, Mass. Bradbury was also the great, great grandson of Rev. John . Wheelwright, born in Lincolnshire, Eng. in 1594; a graduate of Cam- bridge, and a clergyman of the established church of Alfred, Lincoln- shire. In 1636 he came to Boston. He was a brother-in-law of the celebrated Anne Hutchinson, and shared many of her intense views. In 1638 he formed a settlement in N. H. which he called Exeter.
Young Bradbury was one of twelve children, of Dea. Moses and Eunice (Millet) Bradbury, of Minot, Maine. His brothers, John and Nathaniel, and sister Sarah (Mrs. Benj. Hersey) were each prominent and valued residents of old Foxcroft.
At a town meeting held "in Gilman Greeley's barn" on the 26th of June 1813, it was voted: "to except one half acre of land, for a burying ground, lying on South side of road running norwesley from the Mills, about 70 rods, from corner of road near Greeley's mills."
Voted: "not to set the school house or town house on the burying ground. But set the school house or town house on the north side of road " ---
Voted: "to except a road from the south-east corner of Nathan Car- penter's to Lowstown line."
At the above meeting, Joel Pratt was elected Collector at commission of seven cents (.07) on the dollar. Our Town Clerks in those early days seemed uncertain whether the last vote of the meeting should be to "resolve" or "desolve" it but some kind of "solving " seemed necessary!
At a later town meeting it was voted: "to hire Joel Pratt to build the school house or town house." This angered David Colby, the joiner from Norridgewock, who claimed that those, in the west section of the town, were running affairs! He left town. Mr. Bacon and family also moved from town about this time; and James Garland moved in, occupying the Bacon house, for many years.
Mr. James Thompson commenced clearing the Coffren farm. At that time the road, or bridle path, passed by the present Union Station; then followed nearly the line of the B. and A. R. R. to Morse's crossing, where it became the path to the Sebec line. This was the easiest way to cross the Mill Brook.
Mr. Thompson's family consisted of his wife, Hannah, and ten chil- dren; the eleventh, a daughter being born in Foxcroft.
Daniel Carter born in Vassalboro ..
May 21, 1792
..
Jan. 27, 1794
Polly Jackman Benjamin
Winslow Jan. 8, 1796
Betsey Varnum .. Janet Wilkins
Dec. 19, 1797; m. Gilman Greeley
Nov. 30, 1799
.. Hannah Salley Parker 44
Waterville
Dec. 14, 1801
..
June 6, 1805
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OLD FOXCROFT
Jonathan
Fairfield
Aug. 13, 1807
Abigail Rogers
Mch.30, 1810
Anna Colby
66 New Charleston
Apr. 11, 1813
Cassandra
Foxcroft Dec. 4, 1815
In 1814, at the regular town meeting, Adaniram Blake offered to run as Collector without pay, but the town voted not to except, and then voted "to give one and one half percent for collection to Wm. Thayer who brought foward Nathan Carpenter and Nathaniel Buck as bondsmen."
Voted "to spend $400.00 on roads; and $125.00 for schools; also $1.50 per day for men, and same for oxen, working on the highway; and that neat cattle should run at large during the summer."
Dr. Jeremiah Leach came to town this year from Minot. He pur- chased at tax sale lot #15 in the 1st range, and became a neighbor to Joel Pratt. He erected a small one room framed house, which later became the "little red school house" in Dist. #1. His health failed and he was obliged to seek advice in Boston. He moved to Sangerville in 1818, where he was still engaged in practice in 1833.
In 1813 John Bradbury, after a visit to his father's home in Minot, returned with his bride, Miss Alethea Hersey, a niece on her mother's side of Mrs. Abigail (Poole) Chandler, (Mrs. John). And then ap- peared the first store in the settlement, for John Bradbury foresaw its need, and although he lived at the extreme southwest corner of the town, expected trade from Lowstown, and the south side of the river.
In 1814, Bela Hammond and sons, from New Gloucester, made an opening on their lot at the Four Corners, purchased several years earlier of the Proprietors. The next spring, they commenced the erection of the large two story house, still standing, on the Hazeltine place, so called; and in 1815, the names of Bela Hammond and Bela Hammond Jr. appeared on the Selectmen's list of voters, and continued to appear for many consecutive years.
In 1814 Mr. Abel Turner came with his family to a small log cabin on lot #16 in the 4th range. On Oct. 12, 1815 of the following year his third son, Adam Boardman was born and on Jan. 11, 1818 his fourth daughter, Betty Bearce, was born.
The log house was located about on the site of the present True house on the road that was later laid out (1832) as by vote "to accept road across the fourth range at lot line west of lot #14 so as to form a communication between the neighborhoods of Salmon Holmes and Peleg Weston", later the Nancy Hayes farm.
About 1822 Mr. Turner built a frame house on the site of the present home on the lot #16 and what part if any, of the present house it became, cannot be learned definitely.
It has been recorded that religious services on Sunday were for a time held in the Turner log cabin. That seems an erroneous statement, as the Town house was erected especially for "school and religious and town meetings" in 1813 at the expense of $100.00! Again it would
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OLD FOXCROFT
seem that there may have been a small school house, just above the Dea. Carpenter home, on the same side of the road, somewhat diago- nally across from the present Harrison Chandler homestead, in which to have held religious services. Those may have been neighborhood prayer meetings held in the Turner log house.
During the summer of 1815 two important pieces of road were laid out for the use of the town of Foxcroft, viz.,
Beginning at the southwest corner of lot #13 in the 3rd range, thence running south 260 rods to the river road. June 2, 1815.
SAMUEL CHAMBERLAIN JOHN BRADBURY Selectmen.
This furnished the "B. T. C.'s" (Bucks, Thayers, Carpenters, Call and Chamberlain) means of exit to Bradbury's store and the Mills.
Second,-Laid out for the use of the town of Foxcroft a road as follows, viz.,
Beginning at the Southwest corner of lot #3 in the 1st range from thence running North 653 rods to the senter Road (so called.)
June 5, 1815.
GILMAN GREELEY JOHN BRADBURY Selectmen.
This was the road, lately discontinued, from the Averill Place, past the Cemetery and school house in the so-called Lee District, across the Milo road due north.
In 1815, after the Bezaliel Lorings had moved to Guilford (Lows- town), Mrs. Nathan Carpenter & Mrs. Loring united with the Congrega- tional Church in Garland. Isaac Wheeler, (who had so generously assisted Col. Foxcroft in interesting settlers to come in) and his wife were two of the eleven members of the Church at this time. Whenever it was possible Mrs. Loring would join Mrs. Carpenter either at Capt. Pratt's or the "Mills", where, just below the dam, was the fording place to Goose Island, thence to Plantation 3. Each lady on horse back, covering the ten miles as speedily as possible to listen to a long and hot doctrinal discourse of Parson Sawyer, then going for the noon hour, for a cold lunch with Isaac Wheeler's family. Then to church again, for the afternoon service; and a ride home of twelve miles for Mrs. Carpenter and eighteen miles for Mrs. Loring.
Often have I heard my grandmother, the oldest daughter of Isaac and Mrs. Wheeler describe those Sundays; and the lasting impression of rare Christian grace and fortitude of each lady. And it was Mrs. Car- penter, who organized and taught, the first Sunday School in our town.
In 1815 Mr. Timothy Hutchinson moved his family to the western part of the District, first to Paris, then Albany Maine. A son, Liberty Haven, born in Foxcroft in 1808, was, in the forties and fifties, a most prominent lawyer in Auburn Me. : while another son, Timothy Hardin, born here in 1810, became a millwright, an inventor of intricate
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OLD FOXCROFT
machinery, and amassed a fortune. His home was in Gorham, N. H. One of the sons of Edwin F. (11th child) and Elizabeth (Flint) Hutchin- son was Liberty Haven Hutchinson2, at one time Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. He died before 1884.
From New Gloucester, in 1816, there came to the young township, a family well known to history, because of hardships and sufferings experienced by the wife and mother, as Peggy Forbes. Mr. and Mrs. William Merrill purchased lot #16 in the 1st range adjoining the Benj. Hersey farm. Their children b. in New Gloucester were,
John born in New Gloucester
Feb. 26, 1801 June 28, 1802
Abigail
Dolly
66
66
Mar. 18, 1805
Margaret
William 66
Feb. 11, 1809 66 Alvin 66
June 19, 1811
Joel 66 Foxcroft
Oct. 9, 1816
Margan
Henry Sewell 66
66
Dec. 12, 1819 May 2, 1822
Mrs. Merrill's only brother, Robert Forbes Jr. lived in town a few years, then moved to Sebec, and Mrs. Forbes Sr. spent her last days here.
In 1816, a young man also from New Gloucester, having purchased from Col. Foxcroft considerable land, came to Foxcroft. Jacob Cotton was a nephew of Bela Hammond Sr., and for a time, made his home with the Hammonds at the "Center". He began "speculating" in land, and from 1816 to 1827, bought and sold, many of the lots in what has been known as the Lee District. He married Rachel, daughter of Joseph and Prudence Morse of "Dundee." Young Cotton was the great, great, great grandson of John Cotton, one of the first ministers settled in Boston, and who was born in Derby, England, Dec. 4, 1585. He entered Trinity College in Cambridge, and was afterwards fellow of Emmanuel College, and employed as lecturer and tutor. Rev. Mr. Cotton came to America in 1633, and was ordained, and became a colleague of Rev. Mr. Wilson. Such became his standing and influence, that he was known as the "patriarch" of New England. He was a critic in Greek, wrote Latin with elegance, and could discourse in Hebrew. A daughter became the wife of Rev. Increase Mather, pastor of the Old North Church in Boston.
To Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Cotton were born four children :
Jacob Jr. born Nov. 4, 1818 Margan Hammond July 3, 1821 Eliza Sophia May 25, 1823 Hiram Bradbury 66 July 24, 1827
This year also saw another young man take up his residence in Foxcroft,-Dr. Aaron Tucker Jr., son of Aaron and Tamersin (Stacy) Tucker of Charlton Mass. He was a brother of Mrs. Samuel Chamber- lain and until he made a home for himself, lived with the Chamberlains.
66 66 60 Oct. 12, 1813
66
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OLD FOXCROFT
Dr. Tucker was well prepared for the practice of his chosen profession, and the community congratulated itself, in being able to have so good a physician in its midst. In the fall of 1818, Dr. Tucker went back to Charlton, and on October 18, made Miss Charlotte Chamberlain his wife. She was a sister of Samuel and Nathaniel Chamberlain.
On October 7, 1818, a deed of lot #13 in the 1st range, passed from John Bradbury to Eliakim Chamberlain of Charlton Mass. He im- mediately transferred the deed to the young bride. Returning to Foxcroft Dr. and Mrs. Tucker found a house, already in the process of erection, on the lot. Their brother Nathaniel and Joel Pratt were contributing the labor, while Samuel Chamberlain had supplied the lumber from his own wood land, all as wedding gifts. The house oc- cupied the knoll on the southeast corner of the lot, on north side of the road to Guilford. Soon Dr. Tucker's financial position was such as to enable him to build the large house, occupied for so many years by an esteemed townsman, Mr. Philemon C. Parsons and Family ; still stand- ing, but an eyesore to passers-by because of its gutted-by-fire condition.
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