USA > Ohio > Madison County > The history of Madison County, Ohio > Part 47
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Dr. B. F. Adams, from Mechanicsburg, Ohio, was there for a few months in the summer of 1881.
Dr. W. F. Wallace, a native of New Hampshire, and formerly a peri- patetic schoolmaster of this county, located there in the spring of 1881, im- mediately after taking his degree of M. D. at Columbus Medical College. He left for New Hampshire in the fall of the same year.
Dr. Sidney C. Teeters was born in Wayne County, Ohio, raised in Athens County, Ohio; married, first, Miss Margaret Gibson, of Meigs Coun- ty, Ohio, April 9, 1857, and second, to Miss Esther M. Carpenter, of Meigs County, Ohio, June 2, 1880. He graduated at the Eclectic Medical Insti- tute, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1873. Practiced in Athens County, Ohio, for about fourteen years; in Vinton County, ten years, and located in La Fay- ette in the spring of 1882.
SOMERFORD.
Dr. Daniel Wilson settled there in 1837. He was a botanic physician. He was probably the best known physician who has ever practiced there. He was a member of the German Baptist Church (Tunkers) and a Deacon among them. He occasionally preached for them, and conducted the exer- cises on funeral occasions. He died near there on the 27th of May, 1867. He was born in Kentucky June 5, 1801
Dr. John Zimmerman, a quadroon Pottawatomie Indian, was the next. He had previously practiced in South Solon, this county. He located in Somerford in about 1848. He was a Christian preacher, and organized the first Christian Church there. He afterward went to Liverpool, where he practiced for awhile, from abont 1852. I knew him personally while he was living there. The boys over on the Little Darby called him Dr. " Rutabaga." on account of his being a " herb doctor." He was a good practitioner and an able preacher.
Dr. William Adams read medicine with Dr. Enoch Thomas, of London, Ohio, in about 1844. Practiced in Somerford two or three years, and
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moved to Clinton, Ill. Was a brother of Eli H. Adams, of Somerford Township. Dr. J. T. Colliver, of Jefferson, Ohio, married one of his daughters.
Dr. Andrew Summers located there about 1848, but did not remain He moved West.
long.
Dr. Daniel Bell was there also for a time, and also a Dr. Ecord.
Dr. J. H. Grahnn settled there in about 1863, and remained about one year, when he moved to South Charleston, Ohio.
Dr. Edwin Guy Keifer, son of James and Deniza (Reed) Keifer, was born May 21, 1846, in Fairfield Township, Greene County, Ohio. He en- listed, August 15, 1862, in Company H, Forty-fourth Regiment Ohio In- fantry, and was mustered out at the close of the war. He enjoyed the lux- ury of " sticking his legs under the mahogony " for one month at Libby Prison, Richmond, Va., Gen. Rasser having surprised the camp at Beverly, Va., by night, taking in nearly the entire command, his regiment having been changed to a cavalry command. He commenced the study of medicine under John W. Greene, of Fairfield, Ohio, and graduated an M. D. at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery in 1871. He located in Som- erford in the spring of 1871, where he now lives. He married January 15, 1868, Miss Lou Snediker, of Fairfield, Ohio.
Dr. Milton C. Sprague, son of Dr. James B. Sprague, was born in Harmony Township, Clark County, Ohio, October 23. 1849; graduated at the Cincinnati Medical College in June, 1874. Practiced with his father in London, Ohio, until January, 1880, when he located at Somerford, Ohio. He married, August 20, 1874, Miss Alice C. Hurd, of Vienna, Clark Co., Ohio.
LIVERPOOL.
Dr. Jeremiah Curi, son of Thomas Curl, was born near Mechanicsburg, Ohio; studied medicine with Dr. Abner Cheney, of Mechanicsburg, and lo- cated in Liverpool about 1840. He afterward moved to Marysville, Ohio, where he became a prominent physician.
Dr. Marshall Perry Converse located in Liverpool in 1846. In 1847. he received into partnership his cousin, Dr. Jeremiah Converse, then direct from his well earned honors as a graduate at Starling Medical College. They were partners for two years. Dr. M. P. Converse moved West and died in Champaign County, Ill., in 1856. He was a brother to Dr. George Converse, of Georgesville, Franklin Co., Ohio, who was the father of George L. Converse, M. C.
Dr. John Zimmerman was there in about 1851. He was probably a son of the Zimmerman noticed in South Solon, and is probably the same man noticed in Danville, California and Somerford.
Dr. Joseph C. Kalb was born and raised on a farm, near Canal Win- chester, Ohio; was a pupil under Dr. James F. Boal, of Canal Winchester and Amity, Ohio. Graduated at Starling Medical College in 1854; located at Liverpool the same year, and was Assistant Surgeon in the Fortieth Ohio Regiment.
Dr. Andrew Sabin practiced medicine in Liverpool in about 1857-58; was a distinguished surgeon in the army, but I think was not commissioned from this county. His present residence is Marysville, Ohio.
Dr. F. M. Carter, a native of Virginia, has been in Liverpool since about 1865.
SOUTH SOLON.
Dr. John Zimmerman, said to have been a quadroon Pottawatomie, was
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
the first resident physician at Solon. From what I can ascertain, he was the father of another John Zimmerman, who is noticed as having been at Somerford, Liverpool and California. He probably died at Solon.
Dr. Parker was probably the next. He moved to Tipton County, Ind. Dr. Alfred Jones, from Charleston, was there eight or ten years. He moved to Burlington, Iowa,
Dr. Winans, from Xenia, Ohio, practiced here.
Dr. Thomas Adams was there in 1847, and was followed by Dr. Glass. Dr. Ernest located there in about 1861. Dr. Washington Atkinson located at Solon in about 1866. He studied with Dr. Curtis, of South Charleston, Ohio. He had previously practiced in Midway.
Dr. John S. Smith came from Washington County, Penn .; was a grad- uate in medicine.
Dr. Thomas Wessinger and Dr. H. H. Mcclellan practiced at this point.
Dr. O. G. Field, son of Dr. Abel W. Field, was raised in Amity, Madi- son Co., Ohio; studied medicine in part with his father. Graduated at Starling Medical College. Has practiced at London, California and Mid. way.
Dr. John Sidner graduated at Columbus Medical College in the class of 1882. Located for a short time at Jefferson, and then moved to Solon.
CALIFORNIA.
Dr. Davis was probably the first resident physician of Fairfield Town- ship. He lived about three miles northeast from where the village now stands.
Dr. Holmes built the first house in the village in 1849. He began practicing there the same year, and when a post office was eatablished there he was appointed the first Postmaster.
Dr. McComb, from South Charleston, Ohio, located there in 1851.
Dr. Dennis Warner, in 1853, vide London.
Dr. John Zimmerman and his son-in-law, Dr. Martin, in about 1854.
Dr. B. F. Welch in 1855. He was a pupil of A. H. Baker and also of Jennet Stutson, of Jefferson, Ohio.
Dr. Orestes G. Field located there in about 1858, and had as a partner Dr. Thomas, who had previously been a partner of Dr. Strain's, of London. Dr. O. G. Field was commissioned as Assistant Surgeon in the Fourth Ohio Cavalry, March 19, 1864, and was promoted to Surgeon of the same regi- ment October 25, 1864, and was mustered out with his regiment.
Dr. Charles W. Higgins, son of Charles Higgins, was born and raised near Alton, Franklin Co., Ohio; was a soldier in the war of the rebellion. Studied medicine with Dr. Richard Woodruff, of Alton, Ohio. Graduated at Starling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio. Located at California in about 1865. He combined merchandising with his profession, and has been prosperous.
Dr. Smeltzer located there in 1882. He is a graduate of Miami Med- ical College, Cincinnati, Ohio.
TRADERSVILLE.
Dr. Thomas P. Boud was born in Harrison County, W. Va., June 13, 1825. He studied medicine in Whitewater, Wis., and graduated at La Porte, Ind., in 1847. He located at Tradersville about 1847, and boarded first with Isaac Fox, and afterward with Abram Lewis. He moved to Me- chanicsburg about 1850. He was elected Treasurer of Champaign County,
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
Ohio, in 1861, and was commissioned Assistant Surgeon of the Sixty-sixth Regiment Ohio Infantry, but had to resign on account of ill health. Re- covering his health after his return home, he was again tempted to accept a commission in the Thirty-second Ohio Infantry, of which, I think, he be- came the Surgeon. Again breaking down in health, he again had to resign his commission. I knew Dr. Bond before the war, and in the army also. He was a good physician and an educated and accomplished gentleman. When he joined our Ohio Brigade prior to the Vicksburg campaign, I was detailed to a " feather-bed " position at Division Hospital. Bond was a stranger in the brigade, and I was his friend at home before the war. I had a feeling that he was too frail for the hardships of roughing it in the open air, day and night, in sunshine and in storm, through many event- ful weeks, without shelter at night, which could only be found at Division headquarters. I went to headquarters unknown to him, and had the de- tail changed from myself to Dr. Bond; but my humanity resulted to my ad- vantage after all, as I was detailed afterward as the Division Hospital Director. He died at his home, in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, of disease con- tracted in the army, March 28, 1866. He was married, September 9, 1851, to Miss Mary J. Blew, who survives him.
NEWPORT.
Dr. Thornburg was the first resident physician there.
Dr. Anderson Neibarger was born in Pleasant Township, Clark Coun- ty, Ohio, on a farm now owned by David Ward. Studied medicine with Dr. Thornburg, of Newport, Madison Co., Ohio, and practiced first at London, from about 1865, for about one year, and then at Newport for four or five years, and moved to Jamestown, Greene Co., Ohio, near which he died about 1875. He married Miss Morse, of near Catawba, Clark Co., Ohio, 'sister of Mrs. David Woosley.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Riggin was born May 1, 1844, in Pickaway County, Ohio, near Mt. Sterling, son of Isaac C. and Lucinda (Baker) Riggin. Was five years at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, from 1857. Left at the end of his Junior year. in 1862: became a pupil under Dr. John Holton, of Mt. Sterling, Ohio. Graduated at Starling Medical College in the class of 1865. During 1864, was a partner in practice with Dr. John Holton, at Mt. Sterling, and returned to Mt. Sterling and located in 1865, after graduation, and practiced there until 1875, when he went to Columbus for one year, and then located at Newport, where he remained until September, 1882, when he moved to London, Ohio. He was married, May 17, 1865, to Miss Isabella Leach, daughter of Benjamin and Sarah (Bostwick) Leach.
DANVILLE.
Dr. William McClintick, a brother to Dr. Samuel McClintick, of Mt. Sterling, Ohio, was born in Muskingum County, Ohio, near Zanesville, in 1817. He studied medicine with Dr. James F. Wilson, of New Holland, Ohio, and located in Mt. Sterling, Ohio, in 1840, where he practiced for about twenty years. He graduated at Starling Medical College in 1848. He bought a farm two miles esat of Danville, and moved to it in 1860, where he died November 21, 1871, of cancer. He was a good physician. Danville was a good point and his excessive labor in his profession prob- ably brought an untimely death. In 1842, he married Hannah Reeves, who died in 1845 without issue. In 1847, he married Fannie Reeves, sis
.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
ter to his first wife, who, with two daughters and one son, still live at the home farm.
Dr. Thomas Reeves McClintick was born in Mt. Sterling, Madison Co., Ohio, in 1848. read medicine with his father, Dr. William McClintick, and graduated at the Medical College of Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1870. He lived on his father's farm until 1877, when he married Sarah Howsman, and then moved into the village of Danville. In 1880, he moved to Kansas City, Mo., where he has a good practice.
Dr. James Bradley Morgan was born in Ross County, Ohio; read medi- cine with Dr. William Latta, of Frankfort, Ross Co., Ohio. Graduated at the Ohio Medical College, Cincinnati, in 1869, and located at Danville in the same year; stayed about one year and then moved to Clarksburg, Ross Co., Ohio.
Dr. C. M. Deem is the only physician at Danville at the present writ- ing. He located there on the 11th of August, 1881. He is a genial, pleas- ant gentleman, and has a good practice. He had practiced at Plain City and at Lilly Chapel, Ohio, before going to Danville.
LILLY CHAPEL.
Dr. L. F. Scofield was born at Hilliards Station, Norwich Township, Franklin County, Ohio, September 12, 1853; studied with Dr. J. M. Merry- man, of Hilliards. Graduated at Columbus Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, February, 1881, and located at Lilly Chapel the 23d day of March, 1881, being the first physician to locate in the village. He is a member of the Madison County Medical Society, and also of the State Medical Society.
MADISON COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION.
In September, 1857 or 1858, an attempt was made to organize a County Medical Society. The meeting was called by publication, and a few phy -. sicians responded. Nothing further was done than the selection of Dr. Will- iam Morrow Beach, as President, and Dr. A. H. Underwood, as Secretary. On motion of Dr. Toland Jones, the appointment of committees was de- ferred until the next meeting. There was an unusual amount of sickness during the next month, and when the meeting day came around there was not a quorum for transacting business, and so this, the first attempt to es- tablish a society in the county, became a failure.
On the 31st day of May, 1878, in accordance with a movement inaugu- rated by the physicians of Plain City, there was a meeting held at Jefferson, Ohio. There were present at this meeting Drs. Salathiel Ewing and M. J. Jenkins, of Plain City; Drs. J. N. Beach, H. S. Quinn and Charles Snyder, Jefferson: Dr. J. S. Howland, of New California, Union County; Dr. W. H. Jewett, of Amity; Dr. Richard Woodruff, of Al- ton, Franklin County; Drs. Toland Jones, H. J. Sharp and James B. Sprague, of London, and Dr. Davis, of Georgesville. Dr. Richard Wood- ruff, of Alton, was chosen Chairman pro tem .; Drs. Ewing, Beach and How- land were appointed a committee to draft a constitution and by-laws, which committee reported before the close of the meeting, and their report was adopted. Dr. Salathiel Ewing was chosen President, and Dr. M. J. Jen- kins, Secretary. The officers of the association were to be elected twice a year. At the meeting in December, 1878, Dr. J. N. Beach was chosen President. In June, 1879, Dr. Toland Jones, of London; in January, 1880, E. B. Pratt, of Mt. Sterling, and A. J. Strain to succeed M. J. Jenkins as Secretary. In June, 1880, Dr. William Morrow Beach, of London, was
John John
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
elected President; in January, 1881, H. J. Sharp, of London, was elected President; in June, 1881, Richard Woodruff, of Alton; in December, 1881, J. P. Kirkpatrick, of Midway. The meetings are usually held at London. The present membership consists of Drs. Toland Jones, H. J. Sharp, J. B. Sprague, A. J. Strain, William Morrow Beach, J. T. Houston and C. S. Morse, of London: Drs. Salathiel Ewing, M. J. Jenkins, T. M. Mattoon, Jeremiah Converse and William I. Ballinger, Plain City; Drs. E. B. Pratt, W. H. Emery and Samuel McClintick, Mt. Sterling; Drs. John N. Beach, Charles Snyder. Jefferson; Drs. A. Ogan and J. P. Kirkpatrick, Mid- way; Drs. B. F. Welch and C. W. Higgins, California; Drs. Richard Woodruff and T. B. Norris, Alton; Dr. W. H. Jewett, Amity; Dr. E. G. Keifer, Somerford: Dr. John Sidner, South Solon; Dr. L. F. Scofield, Lilly Chapel; Dr. W. L. Pinkerton, Galloway; Dr. E. H. Smith, Vienna: Dr. G. W. Gardner, Harrisburg; Dr. J. S. Howiand, New California, Union County. The association meets on the last Friday in each month, at 10 o'clock A. M.
ARMY SURGEONS FROM MADISON COUNTY.
Dr. Joseph C. Kalb, commissioned Assistant Surgeon in the Fortieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, October 3, 1861. He resigned Janu- ary 6, 1863: term of service, two years and three months.
Dr. John Noble Beach. commissioned by Gov. David Tod Surgeon in the Fortieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, to succeed Surgeon Alexander McBride, April 14, 1862, to rank as such from April 1, 1862. Was mus- tered out at Nashville, Tenn., with that portion of the regiment that did not re-enlist or veteranize, December, 1864; term of service, two years and nine months.
Dr. William Morrow Beach, commissioned by Gov. David Tod, Assist- ant Surgeon in the volunteer forces of Ohio in the service of the United States (State Surgeons), April 3. 1862, and was assigned to duty at Shiloh with the Twentieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Was commissioned by Gov. David Tod Assistant Surgeon in the Seventy-eighth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, May 3, 1862, to rank as such from April 20, 1862; re-enlisted or veteranized with the Seventy-eighth Ohio Regiment for the remainder of the war at Vicksburg, Miss., in April, 1864. Was com- missioned by Gov. John Brough as Surgeon of the One Hundred and Eight- eenth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, May 19, 1864. Was mustered out with the regiment, after the close of the war, at Salisbury, N. C., June, 1865; term of service, three years and three months.
Dr. Orestes G. Field, commissioned by Gov. John Brough Assistant Surgeon in the Fourth Ohio Cavalry March 19, 1864; promoted to Surgeon. to succeed Surgeon Lucius H. James, resigned, October 25, 1864. Mus- tered out with regiment; term of service, one year and three months.
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
CHAPTER XII.
EDUCATION - SCHOOL LANDS - PIONEER SCHOOLS-GROWTH OF EDUCATION- SCHOOLS FOR COLORED YOUTH-PRESENT GOVERNMENT OF SCHOOLS.
T THE men of to-day who were familiar with the olden time which they made and of which they were a part, and who grew up with the ever- enlarging civilization, are living in a changed atmosphere. So suddenly and so strangely has the genius of change and alteration waved his charmed wand over the land, that the early settler has changed and kept pace with the changing years, and the unwritten history of the early days is recalled, as one remembers a fading dream. The sharp and hard conflicts of life make heroes, and the fierce struggles of war and bloodshed develop them into self-reliant, stubborn and aggressive men, as fierce and sanguinary as their bitter foes. We are living in the age of invention and machinery. These have destroyed the romance of frontier life, and much of the strange, eventful realities of the past are rapidly becoming mythical, and the narra- tives of the generation that settled the Scioto Valley, abounding in rich treasures of incidents and character, are being swallowed up and forgotten in the surging, eventful present.
The most casual observer cannot but have noticed, notwithstanding the privation and discomforts attending the lives of the early settlers, the zeal they manifested in education, and that, as soon as a sufficient number of pupils could be collected and a teacher secured, a house was erected for the purpose. The period just preceding the Revolution was characterized by its number of literary men and the interest they gave to polite learning; and the patriots who were conspicuous in that struggle for human liberty, were men not only of ability but of no ordinary culture. We can readily un- derstand that the influence of their example had its weight in molding pub- lic sentiment in other respects, besides that of zeal for the patriot cause. To this may be added that, for the most part, the early pioneers were men of character, who endured the dangers and trials of a new country, not sole- ly for their own sakes, but for their children, and, with a faith in what the future would bring forth, clearly saw the power and value of education. Then we find, from the beginning, their object kept steadily in view, and provision made for its successful prosecution, and the express declaration of the fundamental law of the State, enjoins that " the principal of all funds arising from the sale or other distribution of lands or other property, grant- ed or intrusted to the State for educational purposes, shall forever be pre- served inviolate and undiminished, and the income arising therefrom shall be faithfully applied to the specific objects of the original grants or appro- priations, and the General Assembly shall make such provisions by taxation or otherwise, as, from the income arising from the school trust fund, shall secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State."
SCHOOL LANDS.
The act of Congress providing for the admission of Ohio into the Union, offered certain educational propositions to the people. These were, first, that Section 16 in each township, or, in lieu thereof, other con-
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
tiguous or equivalent lands, should be granted for the use of schools; sec- ond, that thirty-eight sections of land, where salt springs had been found, should be granted to the State, never, however, to be sold or leased for a longer term than ten years; and third, that one-twentieth of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands in the State should be applied toward the construction of roads from the Atlantic to and through Ohio. These propo- sitions were offered on the condition that the public lands sold by the United States after the 30th of June, 1802, should be exempt from State taxation for five years after sale. The ordinance of 1787 had already pro- vided for the appropriation of Section 16 to the support of schools in every township sold by the United States; this, therefore, could not, in 1802, be properly made the subject of a new bargain between the United States and Ohio; and, by many, it was thought that the salt reservations and one- twentieth of the proceeds of the sale of public lands, were inadequate equivalent for the proposed surrender of a right to tax for five years. The convention, however, accepted the propositions of Congress, on their being so modified and enlarged as to vest in the State, for the use of schools, Sec- tion 16 in each township sold by the United States, and three other tracts of land, equal in quantity respectively to one-thirty-sixth of the Virginia Military Reservation, of the United States military tract and of the Con- necticut Western Reserve; and to give 3 per cent of the proceeds of the public lands sold within the State to the construction of roads in Ohio, un- der the direction of the Legislature. Congress agreed to the proposed modi- fications, and, in March, 1807, offered to the State, in lieu of the one thirty- sixth part of the Virginia Military Reservation, eighteen quarter townships and three sections of land lying between the United States Military tract and the Connecticut Reserve. On the 14th of January, 1808, the State ac- cepted these lands and released all right and title to the school lands in the Virginia Military District. We here have the basis of the common-school fund of Ohio, never probably conjectured or intended to be sufficient for the purposes of education, but adequate to encourage broader and more liberal views.
We have seen in the foregoing how Congress by a compact with the people, gave them one thirty-sixth part of all of the lands northwest of the Ohio River for school purposes. The lands for this purpose set apart, how- ever, were often appropriated by squatters, and through unwise, careless and sometimes corrupt legislation, these squatters were vested with pro- prietorship. Caleb Atwater, in his History of Ohio, in speaking on this subject, says: "Members of the Legislature not unfrequently got acts passed and leases granted, either to themselves, their relatives, or to their parti- sans. One Senator contrived to get, by such acts, seven entire sections of land into either his own or his children's possession." From 1803 to 1820, the General Assembly spent a considerable portion of every session in pass- ing acts relating to these lands, without ever advancing the cause of educa- tion to any degree.
In 1821, the House of Representatives appointed five of its members, viz., Caleb Atwater, Loyd Talbot, James Shields, Roswell Mills and Josiah Barber, a committee on schools and school lands. This committee subse- quently made a report, rehearsing the wrong management of the school land trust on behalf of the State, warmly advocated the establishment of a sys- tem of education and the adoption of measures which would secure for the people the rights which Congress intended they should possess. In com- pliance with the recommendation of the committee, the Governor of the
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.
State, in May, 1822, having been authorized by the Legislature, appointed seven Commissioners of Schools and School Lands, viz., Caleb Atwater, Rev. John Collins, Rev, James Hoge, N. Guilford, Ephraim Cutler, Josiah Bar- ber and James M. Bell. The reason why seven persons were appointed was because there were seven different sorts of school lands in the State, viz., Section 16 in every township of the Congress lands, the Virginia Military lands, Symmes' Purchase, the Ohio Company's Purchase, the Refugee lands and the Connecticut Western Reserve. This commission of seven persons was reduced by various causes to one of three, Messrs. Atwater, Collins and Hoge, who performed the arduous duties incumbent upon them with but little remuneration, and (at the time) but few thanks.
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