Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc., Part 132

Author: Lane, Samuel A. (Samuel Alanson), 1815-1905
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Akron, Ohio : Beacon Job Department
Number of Pages: 1228


USA > Ohio > Summit County > Akron > Fifty years and over of Akron and Summit County : embellished by nearly six hundred engravings--portraits of pioneer settlers, prominent citizens, business, official and professional--ancient and modern views, etc.; nine-tenth's of a century of solid local history--pioneer incidents, interesting events--industrial, commercial, financial and educational progress, biographies, etc. > Part 132


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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WILLIAM H. UPSON, an early adopted son of Tallmadge, served as prosecuting attorney from 1848 to 1850; was State Senator for Summit and Portage counties from 1853 to 1855; was member of Congress from the eighteenth district (then composed of Summit, Cuyahoga and Lake counties) from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1873; was a delegate to the Republican National Convention, at Balti- more, which renominated Abraham Lincoln, in 1864, and delegate at large from Ohio to the Cincinnati convention, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency, in 1876. On the death of Chief Justice William White, in March, 1883, Mr. Upson was appointed, by Gov. Foster, to fill the vacancy upon the Supreme bench, holding that exalted position until the following December. On the enactment of the law creating the present Circuit Court system of the State, Mr. Upson was elected one of the Judges for the Eighth Circuit, composed of Summit, Cuyahoga, Medina and Lorain counties, in October, 1885, drawing, by lot, the fractional term of one year, and in 1886 was re-elected for the full terni of five years, in which position he is giving the most perfect satisfac- tion. Portrait and biography on page 172.


JOHN W. SEWARD, was elected county surveyor, in October, 1874, acceptably performing the intricate and responsible duties of that office for the full term of three years, and is now one of the township justices of the peace.


JOHN C. MEANS, born in Northfield, but reared in Tallmadge, having received a thorough legal training under the tuition of Judge N. D. Tibbals, and successfully engaged in the practice of the law, was, in 1884, elected to the office of prosecuting attorney, which office he administered with energy and ability, until his sudden death, which occurred at the residence of his mother, in Tallmadge, May 8, 1886, Edwin F. Voris, of Akron, being appointed by the court to fill the vacancy for the balance of the term.


ANDREW FENN, EsQ., besides serving as a justice of the peace for many years, was one of Internal Revenue Assessor John E. Hurlbut's most efficient deputies, during and for several years after the close of the War.


1059


PRESENT BUSINESS AND OFFICIAL STATUS.


TALLMADGE'S PRESENT OFFICIAL ROSTER (1891) .- Trustees, Wvlis P. Fenn, Samuel W. Harris, Robert P. Denmead; clerk, C. C. Conaghan; treasurer, Clement Wright; justices of the peace, Wil- liston Alling, John W. Seward; constables, William G. Seiz, John Chapman; postmaster, Clement Wright; the latter gentleman having continuously officiated as treasurer of township since 1852.


TALLMADGE'S PRESENT BUSINESS STATUS .- George P. Sperry, manufacturer of sewer pipe, dealer in coal, etc .; Tallmadge Drain Tile Co. (W. Alling, F. D. Alling; F. B. McNeil and W. G. Seiz); Tallmadge Flower Pot Co., C. B. Skinner, manager; A. A. Viall, saw-mill and dealer in lumber; B. W. Skinner, corn and feed mill; W. J. Emmett, wire picket fence; A. A. Hine & Son, threshing and wood sawing; Skinner & Sperry, threshing and wood saw- ing; W. J. Emmett, threshing and clover mill; W. W. Car- ter, builder and contractor; W. Alling, builder and architect; F. D. Alling, carpenter and builder; Lucius V. Bierce, carriage repairer, trimmer, etc .; Charles Sharp, carriage maker and repairer; John T. Hayden, blacksmith; W. L. Hinman, blacksmith; John Walter, stone mason; F. B. McNeil, brick mason; W. Wagoner, carriage trimmer; George Geylin, harness maker; John Sieber, shoemaker; L. B. Pierce, nursery and dealer in small fruits and plants; J. P. Howland, nursery, fruit grower, etc .; C. P. Parmelee, vegetables, fruits, etc .; R. R. Lawrence, small fruits and vegetables; W. P. Sperry, dealer in horses, cattle, etc .; W. E. Hinman, dealer in fat cattle; Sidney Newport, butcher; Francis H. Wright, dealer in milk; Henry Thomas & Co., coal miners, and dealers; Thomas Roberts & Son, coal miners and dealers; Thomas Rhymes, green- house, dealer in plants, etc .; ---- - Parker, dealer in milk and vege- tables; Welton, cheese factory; Clement Wright, general mer- chandise; Conaghan & Hine (C. C. Conaghan and F. E. Hine), groceries and meat market; Carl B. Skinner, general merchandise, telephone station, etc .; practicing physicians-Drs. Willis Sperry, S. St. John Wright; D. E. Fenn, dentist; John W. Seward, surveyor; George M. Wright, attorney; W. E. Miller, agent N. Y., P. & O. R. R. Co., Wells Fargo'& Co.'s Express and Western Union Telegraph Co .; ministers: Congregational, Rev. S. D. Gammell; Methodist Episcopal, Rev. M. W. Dallas, D. D .; Welsh Congregational, Rev. J. P. Davis.


CONCLUSION.


Thus has Tallmadge played well her part, both physically, morally and politically-in the counsels of the county, State and Nation, and upon the field of battle; and in the brilliant record she has made, as above but faintly set forth, the minor faults and foibles, that have at long intervals slightly beclouded her fair fame may well be graciously overlooked and remembered against her nevermore.


-


CHAPTER LI.


TWINSBURG'S BEGINNING-FIRST CALLED "MILLSVILLE"-HOW AND WHY CHANGED-TOPOGRAPHY, RESOURCES, ETC. - FIRST SETTLER A SEVENTEEN- YEAR-OLD BOY, WHO BECOMES THE PIONEER FARMER, THE PIONEER DAIRY- MAN, THE PIONEER HOTEL KEEPER, THE PIONEER STAGE PROPRIETOR, THE PIONEER MERCHANT, ETC .- SINGULAR COINCIDENTS-EARLY BUILDINGS, EARLY PRICES, EARLY BIRTHS, EARLY MARRIAGES AND DEATHS-PEDES- TRIANISM VERSUS EQUESTRIANISM-BUSINESS AFFAIRS-FATAL MISTAKE ON THE RAILROAD QUESTION-CHURCH MATTERS-SPLENDID EDUCATIONAL RECORD-OVER SIX THOUSAND SCHOLARS IN SIXTY YEARS-WONDERFUL PLUCK AND PERSEVERANCE-STILL HALE AND HEARTY IN HIS NINETY-FIFTH YEAR-MAGNIFICENT MILITARY SHOWING-ENDURING MONUMENT TO THE VALOR OF THE SONS, AND THE GRATITUDE OF THE FATHERS-FULL ROSTER OF SOLDIERS-CIVIL STATUS-MEAGER CRIMINAL RECORD-NOT QUITE A HOMICIDE.


TWINSBURG'S BEGINNING.


TWINSBURG-the northeasternmost township of Summit. county-was, for reasons not now explainable, the last township. in the county to be settled. In the survey of the Western Reserve into townships, in 1796, as elsewhere detailed, what is now called Twinsburg was designated as township 5, range 10, and has thus continued to be known upon the records of both Portage and Sum- mit counties.


In the distribution of the lands of the Connecticut Land Com- pany, by draft, as already explained, the north and northeasterly portion of township 5, range 10, fell to Moses and Aaron Wilcox; south and southeasterly portion to Mills & Hoadley, and the west. and northwesterly portion to Henry Champion.


TOPOGRAPHY, NAME, ETC .- Topographically, Twinsburg will average with the townships of the county. It is well watered and drained by numerous springs and runs rising in the highlands on either side and flowing into Tinker's creek, a considerable stream which, rising in Streetsboro and Hudson, traverses the entire township from the southeast to the northwest, emptying into the Cuyahoga, in the township of Bedford. This creek was named by Gen. Moses Cleveland, while making his preliminary survey of the Western Reserve, in 1796, in honor of Joseph Tinker, one of his most efficient assistants, Mr. Tinker being drowned by the cap- sizing of one of their boats on Lake Erie, on the return trip to Connecticut, in the Fall of that year.


With the exception of certain portions of the bottom lands of the creek, and certain stony ridges both upon the east and upon the west, the soil, generally clay, with intervals of loam, is well adapted to general agriculture, and especially valuable for grazing and dairy purposes.


By reason of his large interest, as one of the proprietors of the township, and of the early laying out of a village, at the falls of the creek, some two miles southeast of the center, the name of Millsville was at first given to the township by Mr. Isaac Mills,


1061


TWINSBURG -- WHY SO NAMED.


senior partner of the firm of Mills & Hoadley, Mr. Mills, presum- ably being a brother of Gideon Mills, Esq., and Doctor Oliver Mills, well known early citizens of Hudson.


SINGULAR COINCIDENTS .- Moses and Aaron Wilcox were twins, natives of North Killingworth, Conn., and at the time of coming into the ownership of that portion of the township 5, range 10, drawn by them, were prosperous young merchants in their native town. They did not, at first, personally visit their new posses- sions, though a few years later becoming prominent citizens of the township. After considerable settlement had been made, the brothers made a proposition to the settlers, to donate six acres of land at the center for a public square, and $20 in money towards the erection of a school house, for the privilege of naming the township, which proposition was accepted, whereupon the twin brothers, Moses and Aaron, sharing the honor equally, named it "Twinsburg."


It is related of these brothers, as a singular concatenation of events, that besides being born upon the same day, May 11, 1770, educated in the same school, going into business together when grown to manhood, and so near alike in feature, voice and man- ners, their most intimate friends could scarcely tell them apart, that they married sisters, Huldah and Mabel Lord, of Killing- worth, at the same time, had the same number of children, moved to Ohio together, held their property in common, were taken sick with the same disease on the same day, died within a few days of each other, and were buried in the same grave in September, 1827.


TWINSBURG'S FIRST SETTLER .- Though certain settlers in Hud- son and Aurora, for the accommodation of the people of those townships, had previously begun preparations for the building of a saw-mill at the falls on Tinker's Creek, erecting and partly finishing a log shanty, and hauling several sticks of hewn timber on the ground for the frame of the mill, the first actual settler in the township, was undoubtedly the late Ethan Alling, father of Akron's well known citi- zen, Mr. Ethan Lewis Alling. . Mr. Ethan Alling's father, Lewis Alling, was raised to the occupation of a farmer, in North Milford, Conn., but in the earlier years of the cen- tury, sold his farm and engaged in trade in the city of New Haven. This calling was a few years later re-exchanged for a small farm and hotel, four miles west of New Haven. Mr. Alling's first born, Ethan, (born August 13, 1800), after ETHAN ALLING. a very limited common school edu- cation was, when about fourteen years of age, placed in the grocery store of Loomis & Johnson, of New Haven, as clerk, his father paying his board the first year, and a merely nominal salary being paid him for his services the second year.


1062


AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.


In the Winter of 1816, '17, the elder Alling sold his farm and other property, mostly taking notes therefor, which (guaranteeing payment) he exchanged with Mills & Hoadley, for 1,000 acres of land in tract 3, township 5, range 10, of Connecticut Western Reserve, consideration $5,000, or at the rate of $5 per acre. A con- siderable portion of the paper thus guaranteed proving worthless, only about 400 . acres of the land thus purchased was finally retained by Mr. Alling.


Early in the Spring of 1817, Mr. Alling, placing the fullest confidence in the judgment and ability of the boy Ethan, then less. than 17 years of age, started him with three hired men, Zeri Alling, Rodolphus Wolcott and Lex Johnson, to locate the land, and prepare for the settlement of the family thereon. Young Alling and his three companions started from Connecticut, March 3, presumably on foot, and arrived in Hudson, March 31. Having a letter of introduction from the senior member of the firm of Mills & Hoadley to Esquire Gideon Mills, of Hudson, young Alling and his companions were welcomed by that gentleman, who, the next day, April 1, 1817, went with them to point out the- lands from which they were to make their selection.


Following the marked line, which Mr. Mills designated the Chagrin road, they at length came to a point which Mr. Mills said was the geographical center of the township, which point was at. the present southeast corner of the public square. The lay'of the land at this point, and in the immediate vicinity, was so uneven and forbidding, that young Alling determined to look for a more favorable location. The party accordingly followed Tinker's creek southeasterly to the falls, above spoken of, and thence passed over the hill, for many years past known as the Hawkins farm, and returned to Hudson.


The next two weeks were spent by young Alling and his men in clearing a portion of Mr. Mill's slashing, for raising a crop of corn on shares, one or two trips having been made in the mean time into the new township and a location selected on the hill spoken of. In a sketch of Twinsburg, published by Mr. Alling, in 1861, he gives these reasons for locating here, instead of at the center: "First-there we found excellent plow and grass land, water, stone, timber, sugar trees, etc .; second-the water power at. the falls was the best for miles around, probably three times the water that there is there now, and we believed that the business would center there as it had centered at Middlebury, and other places, regardless of the center; and I still think there would have" been a smart village built up had not the owners, Mills & Hoadley, attempted a foolish speculation by laying out a village and ask- ing from $50 to $200 for lots containing less than half an acre of land, thus shutting out mechanics, etc."


FIRST BUILDING COMPLETED .- Young Alling and his men tem- porarily took possession of the unfinished log shanty at the falls, above alluded to, April 15, taking with them, as supplies, pur- chased from Captain Heman Oviatt: one barrel of pork at $25; one barrel of flour, $8; ten bushels of potatoes, $5; one gallon whisky, $1.50; the entire outfit of kitchen utensils being one bail- less bake-kettle, two tin bake-pans, one case knife, one iron spoon and a board two by six feet, intended for a door, but temporarily used for a table; individual jack knives being pressed into service


1063


PIONEER BUILDINGS, PRICES, ETC.


at meal times, with sharpened sticks for forks, and clean broad chips for plates, Mr. Alling being commissary general, and the "chief cook and bottle-washer" of the party.


May 20, Elisha Loomis and Lester Davis arrived from New Haven, putting up at " Hotel Alling," followed by Frederick Stan- ley, May 31; Lewis Alling Jr. (younger brother of Ethan), Gideon Thompson and Zenas Alling, July 1; and by Lewis Alling, Sr., wife, and daughter Elizabeth, Irena Thomas, Amos Cook Taylor and Wilson Whittacus (colored boy called "Tone"), July 27. Up to the latter date mentioned there had been fifteen arrivals in the township, though in the mean time two-Lex Johnson and Lester Davis-becoming disgusted with pioneer life, had taken the back track, thus reducing the colony to a round " baker's dozen."


Previous to this, however, young Alling and his men had erected a commodious log house upon the hill, into which the family moved, on the arrival of father and mother Alling, .Mr. Loomis having meantime built a cabin at the falls, where he also that year erected a saw-mill, long afterwards known as Loomis's mill; Mr. Elias W. Mather erecting a grist mill on the opposite side of the creek, in 1818; a distillery also being erected in 1821 by Joel W. Thompson.


Early in the Spring of 1818, the Allings built a frame barn, and later in the same season raised and partly finished a frame house, the first structures of this kind in the township; the first house (of logs) erected at the center being that of Mr. Elijah W. Bron- son, agent of the Wilcox brothers, probably about 1820, on the east side of the square, the Wilcoxes building a small frame house for themselves on the north side of the square in 1823. These gentle- men, instead of holding their lands at speculative prices, as had Mills & Hoadley, at the falls, sold their lots adjacent to the square at very low figures, and giving outright to mechanics and trades- men, to induce them to settle there, so that within five or six years there were from twelve to fifteen families congregated about and near the public square, the Twinsburg postoffice being established in 1823, with Moses Wilcox as postmaster.


The Wilcox brothers were thoroughly upright men, but in the purchase of their land they had unfortunately incumbered it with mortgages . to the State of Connecticut, while in selling they had in most instances received payment in full. Had they lived, all would undoubtedly have been well, but their early death caused very great embarrassment to those who had purchased under them, and was a very great hindrance to the full development of that portion of the township for a number of years. At length Rev. Samuel Bissell, whose philanthropic labors in the cause of education had become favorably known in the East, interceded with the Connecticut school fund commissioner and secured proper relief, after which the Wilcox tract became rapidly settled and improved.


PIONEER PRICES .- Provisions, except such wild game as could be secured in the woods, and such vegetables as could be raised, as well as all kinds of merchandise, were very high, Mr. Alling and Mr. Luman Lane, quoting prices from 1817 to 1820 as follows: Pork, $8.00 per cwt .; flour, $8.00 per bbl .; salt, $10.00 per bbl .; cot- ton shirting, 34 yard wide, 50 cents per yard; calico, 75 cents; coarse woolen cloth, $3.00; lead, 25 cents per lb .; nails, 121/2 cents


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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.


(and poor at that), Mr. Alling paying transportation on a box of log chains, wedges, etc., from New Haven to Cleveland, $16.00 per cwt. Prices of farm produce were at the other extreme, Mr. Alling, in his memoirs, speaking of having, in 1819, received from Mr. Oliver Brown, of Hudson, twenty-four bushels of the best white seed wheat in payment of $9.00 in money which he had previously loaned him.


L UMAN LANE, - oldest son of


Philip and Rebina (Nettleton) Lane, was born in Killingworth, Con- necticut, October 17, 1796; his six brothers were, Henry, Harvey, Chaun- cey, Julius, Abner and Nathan, and his three sisters, Lovina, Harriet and Polly. He came on foot from Kil- lingworth to Twinsburg, in Novem- ber, 1820, settling upon the farm in the north part of the township, where he resided until his death, April 17, 1879. Mr. Lane was married Novem- ber 25, 1823, to Miss Irena Thomas, who bore him seven children - Charles, Albert, Charlotte, Augusta, Edward, Emeline and Sarah. Mrs. Lane dying, May 19, 1838, (in child- bed, and not from hydrophobia, as has been erroneously stated), Mr. Lane was again married, to Mrs. Emma Parish, a native of Vermont, April 16, 1839, who bore him one child, Mary Philena, the second Mrs. Lane dying June 4, 1879, surviving her husband only one month and four- teen days. Four of Mr. Lane's chil- dren, only, are now living-Charles, on the old homestead; Albert, of Hopkins, Michigan; Augusta, wife


LUMAN LANE.


of O. O. Kelsey ; and Sarah, wife of G. H. Mills, of Twinsburg. Two of Mr. Lane's brothers-Chauncey and Julius - also settled in Twinsburg, where their descendants still live.


TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION, ETC .- By proclamation of the com- missioners of Portage county, Twinsburg township was organized in April, 1819. At this date the voters of the township, according to the recollection of Mr. Luman Lane were: Lewis Alling, Sr., William Allen, Elisha Loomis, Elias W. Mather, Joel W. Thomp- son, Josiah Myrick, Noah P. Nichols, N. J. Palmer, Henry Ben- nett, Amos C. Taylor, Lyman Richmond, Reuben Chamberlain, Frederick Stanley, John Bassett, Samuel Vail, Edwin B. Vail, Homer G. Vail, John Dodge, Isaiah Humphrey, Roman Humphrey, Nestor Hurlbut, Ezra Osborn, Preston Pond, Samuel Alger, Cyrus Hodgskin, N. S. Barnett, Cotton M. Leach, Emery Alger, Elijah W. Bronson, Asa Upson, Orrin Tucker, Leonard Kilbourn, Oliver Clark and Messrs. Perkins, Sawyer, Davis and Darling, whose given names were not remembered by Mr. Lane.


There is no authentic record now extant of this first election except that Frederick Stanley was elected clerk; the first com- missioned justices of the peace, elected in October, 1819, being Lewis Alling and Samuel Vail. Township clerk: in 1820, Elisha Loomis; in 1821, Elijah W. Bronson; in 1822, Luman Lane. The first marriage was that of Emery W. Alger to Eliza Dodge, by Jus- tice Lewis Alling, March 19, 1821; the first birth, that of Maria


1065


EARLY FATALITIES, PIONEER TRIALS, ETC.


Stanley, November 23, 1819; the first death, the infant child of Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Chamberlain, in the Spring of 1819:


EARLY FATALITIES .- The decomposition of vegetation (as was supposed) caused by the erection of the dam and the overflowing of the bottom lands of Tinker's Creek, produced a great amount of sickness and many deaths, from bilious, intermittent and typhus fevers, in the vicinity of Loomis's Mill, in the years 1822 and 1823, hardly an adult person living within one mile of the pond escaping an attack, and not more than two of the age of forty years or over recovering therefrom; among the victims, being Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Alling, who were laid in one grave, September 7, 1823.


ETHAN ALLING'S SUBSEQUENT LIFE .- April 24, 1824, Mr. Alling was married to Miss Eliza Blackman, of Bridgeport, Conn., immediately installing her as the mistress of his Ohio farm. In 1825, Mr. and Mrs. Alling went into the dairy business with twenty- two cows, for which they paid $12 per head, marketing their but- ter in Akron (where the locks of the Ohio canal were then being built) at eight cents per pound, and selling such portions of their cheese as, from imperfect manufacture, did not spoil upon their hands, in Aurora, at five cents per pound; this being the first cheese manufactured in the township for sale.


That Fall (1825) Mr. Alling commenced the erection of a hotel opposite the southeast corner of the public square, moving into it December 6, 1826, and formally opening it to the public by a grand opening ball, on Monday evening, December 25.


PIONEER MERCHANT .- Previous to 1829, all articles of merchan- dise had to be obtained elsewhere, chiefly in Hudson and Aurora. In the Fall of 1829, however, Mr. Alling commenced keeping a few "necessaries" for sale in addition to the stock of liquors every well-regulated tavern was then obliged to keep, his first invest- ment being $3.50 for snuff and tobacco, his " store" being kept in the six by eight apartment occupied by the bar. Other articles were from time to time added to the stock, until at length a sep- arate building was found to be necessary to accommodate his growing trade.


Having sold his two-hundred acre farm, with all its better- ments, for $1,500, ($7.50 per acre), in 1831 he rented his hotel to Samuel Edgerly, (afterwards landlord of the American House, in Hudson and the Summit House, in Akron), and moved his family and goods into a building which he had in the meantime erected upon the west side of the public square, placing therein the first stock of goods brought into the township from New York. In 1835, Mr. Alling built and stocked the commodious store still stand- ing at the northwest corner of the public square, where he con- tinued to do business until 1847, which, in that year, exclusive of salt, flour and farm and dairy products, amounted to over $14,000. In 1848, the business was relegated to his two eldest sons, Francis A, and George Hoadley, the latter buying out the former, in 1851, and continuing the business until his death, in November, 1856, the former having deceased in October, 1854, the store now (1891) being occupied by Mr. Seth R. Hanchett, merchant, postmaster, etc.


In October, 1827, on the death of Mr. Moses Wilcox, Mr. Alling was appointed postmaster, which office he continuously held until 1839 -- the amount received for postage the first year of his incum- bency being $36.01; the last year, $256.67.


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AKRON AND SUMMIT COUNTY.


PIONEER STAGE LINE .- In the earlier years the stage route front . Cleveland southeasterly to Hudson, Ravenna, Pittsburg, etc., was through Northfield, on what was then, as now, known as the State road. With the view of enhancing the business interests of Twins- burg, in the Spring of 1828, in connection with Mr. Jabez Gilbert, Mr. Alling bought out the stage line from Cleveland to Hudson, changing the route from Bedford directly to Twinsburg, over what was then designated the turnpike, to the building and mainte- nance of which the land owners and business men of Twinsburg were liberal contributors.


This enterprise was a success, so far as increasing the business of the hotel, and the general prosperity of the town was concerned, the public travel following the stage route, the hotel barns some- times stabling as many as fifty horses over night, with a corre- ยท sponding patronage for the hotel itself; though it in reality came very near swamping the enterprising proprietors, Mr. Alling's individual loss, in running the line, being over $600, the first seven months. Subsequently Mr. Alling became the sole proprietor of the line, running it for several years thereafter, if not with profit, yet without serious loss.




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