A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II, Part 19

Author: Jordan, John W. (John Woolf), 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 560


USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume II > Part 19


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).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43


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Indian Chief Logan suddenly appeared. Brown at once prepared to fight, but Logan extended his hand in friendship and an acquaintance was there begun that was lasting and of great value to the two young pioneers, probably the first settlers in that valley. On this visit James Reed selected land that was later patented to him and on which Reeds- ville now stands. In the fall the young men returned to Carlisle, where James Reed married during the following winter Jane Ogleby. In the spring he came with his bride to the Kishacoquillas Valley, and built a log cabin, in which his son James, the first white child born in the valley, first saw the light. He cleared and improved his land, his home being at what is now about the center of the village of Reedsville. He was a Presbyterian and signed a call for the first church built in the valley and helped to build the first log church in which was formed the East Kish- acoquillas Presbyterian Church, now located in a handsome church in Reedsville, but the first church standing on a hill three-quarters of a mile away.


The Indians were still troublesome, and at the early services held in the log house James Reed and the other men always carried their rifles. Mr. Reed became a prosperous land owner and farmer and bore a prominent part in all the undertakings for the settlement and develop- ment of Reedsville, named in his honor. He died in 1803, after a long, useful life of eighty years, and is buried in the Presbyterian cemetery at "Church Hill," the site of the first log church he helped to build. His original farm of five hundred acres, patented to him in 1755. is yet partly owned in the family.


Children of James and Jane (Ogleby) Reed: 1. James, the first white child born in Kishacoquillas Valley, lived and died near Reedsville. a farmer ; he married Nancy Milroy. 2. Mary, married John Thomp- son: died in New York. 3. William, married Abigail Kerr; died in Ohio. 4. Sarah, married Henry Steely and both spent their lives on their farm at the east end of the valley. 5. Thomas, moved to New York state, where he died; he married Margaret Van Houten. 6. An- drew, married Hannah Conklin ; also died in New York. 7. Alexander, lived and died near Reedsville, as did his wife Jane. S. John, died in infancy. 9. John, died in Reedsville after 1840. 10. Joseph, killed in a race at age of twenty-seven years, unmarried. 1I. Jane, died young. 12. Abner, of whom further.


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(II) Abner, twelfth child of James and Jane (Ogleby) Reed, was born in Reedsville, Pennsylvania, October 1, 1787, died October 13, 1855. He was educated in the public schools that then existed in his neighborhood, and passed his entire active years engaged in agriculture. IIe became possessed of a large amount of unimproved land and to the development of his estate he devoted his life. He lived in Reedsville many years, but spent the last ten years of his life on his Back Mountain farm. Both he and his wife were devoted Presbyterians and liberal supporters of the East Kishacoquillas church.


He married (first ) Rebecca Nancy Henry, daughter of William and Nancy (Beatty) Henry, he an early settler and farmer. She died in 1826, leaving three children : 1. Joseph, died in 1861. 2. Nancy Mar- garet, married Abner Thompson; children: Mary, John, Ella, Walter. 3. Alexander, of whom further. Abner Reed married ( second ) Rhoda, daughter of John and Mary (Taylor) Mckinney, and widow of John Brown. By her first husband she had a son who died in infancy and a daughter, Mary ("Polly") Ann Brown, who married Samuel W. Tay- lor and had one daughter, Rhoda Mckinney Taylor. After being widowed a second time, Mrs. Rhoda Reed lived with her children until her death in 1877 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Polly Ann Taylor. Children of Abner Reed and his second wife: 1. John, now president of the Reedsville National Bank and of the Farmers National Bank of Belleville; married Elizabeth D. Taylor; children: Henry Taylor and Rhoda M. 2. Andrew, graduate of Dartmouth College : a lawyer of Lewistown until his death at the home of his sister Rebecca Jane, un- married. 3. Ogleby James, a farmer of part of the homestead until his death in Reedsville; married Agnes Jane Cummins : children : John Mil- ton, Mary Brown and Ann Cummins. 4. Rebecca Jane, died on ship- board en route from Japan to America and is buried in Reedsville; mar- ried John (2) Hayes, of Brown township: children: Jane A., died young ; Rhoda M., John Francis, A. Reed and Anna M. 5. Sarah, edu- cated in the public schools ; Ercildoun Seminary at Coatesville, Pennsyl- vania, and Kishacoquillas Seminary ; married Alexander Brown McNitt, whom she survives, a resident of Reedsville.


(III) Alexander, son of Abner and Rebecca Nancy ( Henry) Reed, was born at the Reed homestead farm, where the village of Reedsville now stands, October 11, 1823. His mother died when he was very


Hexander Reed .


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young, but he was reared under the wise guidance of his father, whose second wife gave him a mother's care. He attended the Reedsville schools and remained with his father until reaching legal age. In 1844, in partnership with his brother, Joseph, he began farming and cattle dealing. After carrying on his business successfully on a large farm which they owned, part of the original Reed tract, they began the manu- facture of grain drills in Reedsville, also a successful venture. In 1852, enticed by the "lure of gold," Alexander Reed made the journey to Cali- fornia, via Nicaragua, arriving safely at Sacramento City after a long and dangerous trip. At Sacramento he contracted typhoid fever, but after a serious illness recovered sufficiently to enter government employ, being too weak for work in the mines. He was in the party under Gen- crals Denver, Raines and Estelle, who commanded an overland relief train for the succor of emigrants, making their way to California across the Rocky and Sierra mountains. A few months spent with this party in the healthful outdoors of that section completely restored his health, and on his return to Sacramento he continued under the employ of Gen- cral Estelle and the State of California on guard at San Quentin. hi 1856, after four years absence, he returned to Pennsylvania via Panama. He resumed farming at Reedsville and so continued until a few years prior to his death. He was a friend of all improvement and aided mate- rially in the upbuilding of his home town. He was a Republican in politics, always interested in local political affairs, but never an office- seeker.


He finally retired and removed to Reedsville, where he built a residence in 1898, and there died June 5, 1899. Both he and his wife were active members of the East Kishacoquillas Presbyterian Church, and in 1892 and 1893 he was president of the building committee in charge of the new church erected in Reedsville by that congregation, after worshipping on "Church Hill" one hundred and ten years. Hc was a warm friend of the cause of education and gave his children the benefit of the best advantages the section afforded.


Alexander Reed married, September 29, 1858, Mary Lyon Taylor, born in the Kishacoquillas Valley, December 23, 1837, who survives him. a resident of Reedsville. She is a daughter of Henry P. and Elizabeth (Forsythe) Taylor, granddaughter of Samuel Williamson and Elizabeth (Davis) Taylor, and a great-granddaughter of Captain Henry Taylor,


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an officer of the revolution, and his wife, Rhoda ( Williamson) Taylor. Captain Taylor was a son of Nathaniel Taylor, who lived near Phila- delphia, a Scotch-Irish settler, who probably died soon after his arrival as no further trace of him is found. Henry P. Taylor lived and died in the Kishacoquillas Valley, a farmer and a member of the Pennsylvania legislature in 1852 and 1853. He died in 1902, aged ninety-three years ; his wife died in 1840 at Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania, leaving two daughters: Mary Lyon, now widow of Alexander Reed, residing in Reedsville: Elizabeth, deceased. Children of Alexander and Mary Lyon ( Taylor ) Reed: 1. Elizabeth, married John McDowell, of Reeds- ville : children : Alexander Reed and Mary Lyon McDowell. 2. Mary, married William S. Ellis, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, whom she sur- vives. 3. Henry Taylor, a farmer of the old homestead ; married Saralı Means : children : Mary Kyle, Alexander, Elizabeth. 4. Abner Joseph, a farmer, residing with his mother. 5. Lillie Henry, married Rev. Samuel T. Linton. of Ridley Park, Pennsylvania ; child : Mary.


William Foy was born in Dauphin county, Pennsylvania, in


FOY 1831, died in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. He was left an orphan at an early age and was reared by an uncle, Henry Arent, of Ferguson Valley, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania. He attended the public school, and worked at farming until 1888, when he came to Lewistown. He prospered, and at his death owned considerable land and several houses. He was a Republican in politics, and a member of the Lutheran church.


He married, February 14, 1875, Ellen Lynch, born in Ferguson Valley, Mifflin county, Pennsylvania, March 28, 1836, now deceased, daughter of Lawrence and Bertha ( Nelson) Lynch, both born in Ire- land, coming when young and settling in Ferguson Valley, where Law- rence Lynch died in 1884. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Lynch: 1. Dr. Horatio L., a physician, shot and killed by a negro while sitting in a chair in his own office. 2. Catherine, married Samuel Logan. and died in 1878. 3. Margaret, married James Mackey, and lives in Ferguson Valley. 4. Ellen, of previous mention. 5. Henry, died in Colorado. 6. Mary. married Albert Kerns, of Frankfort, Indiana. 7. Lawrence, deceased. Children of William and Ellen (Lynch) Foy: I. Florence, died in April, 1879, aged twenty-one years. 2. Effie, married George K.


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McCurtis, and died in 1883, aged twenty-two years. 3. Maud, died February 19, 1877, aged fifteen years.


ZINN The Zinns are of ancient German ancestry, the founders of this branch coming from Berlin in 1868. The grandchildren of Andrew Zinn comprise the third generation in the United States, and the second of American birth. The founders, Andrew and Margaret (Deal) Zinn, were both born in Berlin, Germany. He was educated in his native land, learned the shoemaker's trade, married, and in 1868, at the age of thirty-nine years, came to the United States, set- tling at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. He was weighmaster at the coal wharf for twenty-five years. He was a Democrat in politics, and a mein- ber of the Reformed church. He died January, 1907, aged sixty-eight years. His widow still survives, aged seventy years. Children: J. Phil., John H., of whom further ; Harry John, Edward A., Katherine, Charles, George, Frank, all living.


(II) John H., son of Andrew and Margaret (Deal) Zinn, was born in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, May 5, 1868. He was educated in the public school, and until he was nineteen years of age remained in Huntingdon. In 1887 he came to Lewistown, and there learned the carriage builder's trade. He established in business for himself, and in 1907 built his present plant at No. 90 Montgomery street. His residence is at No. 25 Depot street. Mr. Zinn prospered and is held in high esteem as a business man and citizen. He is a Democrat in politics, and a mem- ber of the Lutheran church. His fraternal order is the Knights of the Maccabees.


He married. in 1898, Millie Montgomery, daughter of Robert H. Montgomery, formerly of Lewistown, now deceased. Child, Mar- garetta, born December 25, 1900.


This record of the Hughes family begins with Theoph- HUGHES ilus Hughes, a drummer boy of the war of 1812. He was a resident of Pennsylvania, there married and reared a family which included a son. Ellis.


(II) Ellis, son of Theophilus Hughes, was born in Pennsylvania in 1800, there grew to manhood, married Catherine McDarah and moved to Champaign county, Ohio, where his wife died in 1843. Ellis Hughes


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then returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Columbia, and later was a resident of York county. He was for some time a pilot on the Susque- hanna river. Later he again went west and died in Galena, Illinois, in 1885. He was a Democrat in early life, but after the civil war became a Republican. In religious faith he was a Methodist. Children: Whil- den, Grant, Mary, Joseph W., of whom further.


(III) Joseph W., son of Ellis and Catherine (McDarah) Hughes, was born in Urbana, Ohio, September 16, 1840. His mother died when he was a child of two years, and he was reared by an aunt, Mrs. Joseph Weaver, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. He was educated in the public school, and in 1854, being then fourteen years of age, lie began work- ing in a drug store at Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, remaining there until 1861 and becoming thoroughly familiar with the drug business. In April, 1861, he enlisted in the York ( Pennsylvania ) Rifles, and later served in the Fifty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry. He was a prisoner of war nine months, seven of which he spent at Andersonville. He served four years and two months, receiving honorable discharge at the close of the war. He then returned to Mechanicsburg, where he was for a time clerk in a hardware store, later operated a bakery. In 1871 he came to Lewistown and there entered the employ of The Fran- cisus Hardware Company. He was appointed manager of their store at Mifflintown, Juniata county, there remaining seventeen years. He was then appointed manager of their Lewistown store, holding that respon- sible position thirteen years. He then resigned, and until his retirement was engaged in the retail coal business. In 1909 he retired from active business, but has been interested in improving his property on Valley street by the erection of residences at Nos. 149-151-153. He is a Repub- lican in politics, has served on the borough council, and at the session of the state legislature in 1911 was appointed doorkeeper. He is a mem- ber of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of Pennsylvania, and of Lewistown Lodge, No. 203, Free and Accepted Masons, having been made a Mason in Mechanicsburg Lodge, No. 302. He is president of Lewistown Board of Trade and was president of the Mifflin County Mutual Insurance Company from its organization until January 1, 1912. He is a man held in high esteem by all.


Mr. Hughes married, in 1869, Carolyn Hopper, who died in 1871, daughter of Martin Hopper, of Lewistown, a pioneer settler. Children


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of Joseph W. and Carolyn Hughes: I. Robert T., married Catherine Owens, of Lewistown. 2 Carolyn, married Charles M. Rice, of Lewis- town.


This family came to Pennsylvania from Germany, and in RICE early records the name is written in the German style, Rees.


It was soon anglicized and became Rice. The founder of the family, Zachariah (also written Zachary) Rice, was one of the thirty thousand German emigrants who landed in Philadelphia between the years 1727 and 1776. He was born in Germany in 1731, and in his native land learned the trade of millwright. He came to Philadelphia in the ship "Edinborough" and at once took the oath of allegiance to the King of England. His first work of importance was to build a mill for the separating of elover seed. The machinery has disappeared, but the mill, built on Pickering creek, near Pikeland station, Chester county, is still standing.


In 1757 he married Maria Appolonia (afterward called Abigail to shorten the name) Hartman, daughter of Johannes and Margaret Hart- man, German emigrants, who came in 1750. She was born September 4, 1742, in Germany, died November 6, 1789, the mother of twenty-one children, seventeen of whom walked in procession to her grave. Her grave at Pikeland church is lost, the stone having been destroyed. The young couple began housekeeping on a farm in Pikeland township, where in addition to farming he worked at his millwright trade and at carpentering. During the revolution he worked on the government hos- pital, built at Yellow Springs, in Pikeland, for the sick and wounded soldiers, and also did other work for the government. He prospered and purchased the farm of two hundred and five acres on which he lived. In May, 1786, he purchased one hundred and ten acres additional. He built in 1767 a stone house and there his children were born. They attended St. Augustine's Lutheran Church at the Trappe. thirteen miles away, until 1771, when St. Peter's Church, a log church edifice, was built at Pikeland.


During the revolution the hospital at Yellow Springs was filled with wounded soldiers, to whom Mrs. Rice was a frequent visitor, carrying food and delicacies. During these visits she contracted typhus fever, from which she never fully recovered. After the battle of Brandywine,


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it is said Washington, retreating across Chester Valley, stopped at the Rice home, receiving from the hands of Mrs. Rice a cooling, refreshing drink. Here they lived in peace and prosperity until the spring of 1789, when his farm was seized by the foreclosure of an old English mort- gage. Zachary Rice and one hundred and thirteen other farmers lost their entire property, through the rascality of Andrew Allen, a Phila- delphia merchant and a member of the Continental congress, who mort- gaged the tract and divided it into two and three hundred acre farms, which he sold to the German emigrants, as they arrived, and who trusted him so entirely that they did not question his title. Zachary not being able to redeem his property, it was sold and immediate possession taken. A few months later his wife died and the old emigrant's cup of sorrow was full. But he was made of stern material, and in 1790, with his seventeen children. five of whom were married, he started westward in search of cheaper land. They crossed the Susquehanna at Harrisburg and settled in Milford township, now Juniata county. They had brought their household goods with them in wagons and soon obtained land, built log houses and began clearing. The Indians, had all disappeared, their foes being the wild beasts. Zachary bought the tract upon which he settled in 1790 and paid for it in 1801, five thousand dollars, the result of his farming, humbering and mill building operations, in which he was assisted by his unmarried children. He cut and drew to the site the first log used in the erection of Lebanon church, built at Loysville, Perry county, in 1794. and continued at hard labor until a few years before his death, then spending his time traveling around among his children. settled in Juniata. Perry and Mifflin counties. He died August 11, 1819, aged eighty years, and was buried at Church Hill, Juniata county, Penn- sylvania. He was the grandfather of one hundred and forty-seven chil- dren, and the great-great-grandfather of eight thousand and thirty-six Rice descendants. His son, John Rice, was appointed administrator, and on January 1, 1803. Jacob Rice bought the farm, paying five thou- sand and seventy-six dollars therefor. The administrator's accounts, dated November 3. 1812, show heirs: John, Peter, Jacob, George Con- rad, Zachariah, Henry. Benjamin, Elizabeth, Margaret, Susannah, Ma- riah. Mary, Sally, Kitty, Betsey and Polly, the seventeen living children. The family were noted for their longevity, eighty and ninety years being the usual age. All were men of athletic build, hard workers and good


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citizens. From this old German "patriarch" sprang Jacob Rice, grand- father of Charles Miller Rice, of Lewistown.


(III) Jacob (2), a grandson of Zachariah and Abigail ( Hartman) Rice, was born in Perry county, probably a son of Jacob ( I) Rice, who settled first in Juniata county, later in Spring township, Perry county, and left sons, Jacob (2) and Henry. Jacob (2) Rice was a farmer. He married a Miss Haynaker and had eleven children.


(IV) Frank, son of Jacob (2) Rice, was born in Perry county. Pennsylvania, in 1846. He grew to manhood in Perry county, learned the carriage building trade, married, and moved to the state of Indiana, where he remained three years. He then returned to Pennsylvania, locating in Lewistown, where he followed his trade until 1912. He then joined his son in the management of the Juniata Poultry Farm, in which business he is now successfully engaged. He specializes in the raising of White Leghorn, White Orpington and White Rock chickens, and White Holland turkeys, and has a plant rapidly increasing in value.


He is a veteran of the civil war, having served with the Two Hun- dred and Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. He was engaged in many of the hard battles fought by the Army of the Po- tomac, including the Seven Days' fighting before Richmond, Antietam, Petersburg. He is a Republican in politics, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. He married Isabel Miller, born in Mifflin county in 1847, daughter of Christian Miller, who was born in Saxony, Germany, came to the United States about 1840 with his wife and settled in Lewis- town, Pennsylvania. He drove a stage coach over the mountains in the early days, later was manager of the Pennsylvania railroad station in Lewistown, continuing until 1876, when he purchased a farm three miles from the town on which he lived until death. His children were: Wil- liam and Charles, both deceased, and Mabel, wife of Frank Rice. Chil- dren of Frank Rice: I. Annie E., married G. A. Shiveley and resides at Altoona, Pennsylvania; children: Frank, Isabel and Dorothy. 2. William M., married Emma Cherry and resides in Altoona ; children : Charles and Austin. 3. Charles Miller, of whom further.


(V) Charles Miller, youngest son of Frank and Isabel (Miller) Rice, was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, September 23, 1873. He was educated in the public school and later took a special course at East-


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man's Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1889 he entered the employ of David Grove, a grocer of Lewistown, as elerk, and con- tinued in his employ until 1902, when he was admitted to a partnership, the firm becoming Grove & Rice. They are located at No. 16 East Mar- ket street, and have a well-stocked store and a prosperous business. He is also interested in Lewistown real estate and with his father in the poultry business. He is a member of the Patriotic Order Sons of Amer- ica and the Royal Arcanum; is a Republican in politics and, with his wife, belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.


Hle married. in 1903, Carolyn Hughes, born in Mechanicsburg, Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Joseph W. Hughes. She came to Lewistown with her parents when she was a babe. Children : Carolyn, born February 25. 1905; Marjorie, August 24, 191I.


STRATFORD The paternal ancestor of Daniel Rowe Stratford, of Lewistown, Pennsylvania, was Thomas Stratford. who lived and died in England. Both he and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church. Children: I. Sabina. 2. Julia. 3. Frederick, an eminent educator, who for his services in the English schools was pensioned by the government in his latter years : he was also a well-known and accomplished vocal musician, for years a member of the choir of one of London's famous churches. 4. Wil- liam. 5. Charles John, of whom further. 6. Angeline, who married a Mr. Iliggins and moved to Benton county, Iowa.


( II ) Charles John, son of Thomas Stratford, was born in England in 1818, died in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1893. He was edu- cated in the public school, and at the age of eighteen years left his home and native land. In 1836 he came to the United States, landing in Phil- adelphia, and there working for a time on the wharves as stevedore. He soon left the city and in a short time was located at Easton, Pennsyl- vania, where he learned the trade of marblecutter, serving an apprentice- ship of nearly seven years. His employer was a hard drinker and treated his apprentice with such severity that he would not remain his full term, but paid his employer to release him six months sooner. He then lo- cated in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where he worked at his trade, form- ing a partnership with a Mr. Kemmerling. They were a successful firm and through their united efforts established a prosperous marble yard.


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Mr. Stratford was an expert worker in marble, and to his artistic de- signing and fine workmanship many fine monuments and gravestones in the Juniata Valley bear silent testimony. Mr. Kemmerling later sold out to his partner, and for forty years thereafter Mr. Stratford conducted a large and prosperous business. Although devoted to business and a man of great energy, he was public-spirited, a student, and kept pace with the thought of his day. He was a student of Greek and Latin, and a great lover of books, owning a good library consisting of the best classic literature of the English and other languages. He embraced the cause of temperance with all the ardor of his nature and would often walk fifteen or twenty miles to deliver a temperance lecture. He gained more than local fame as a lecturer and worker for temperance, and in 1870 visited England in the interest of the cause. So highly was he re- garded that he carried abroad, among his credentials, a letter from Gov- ernor John W. Geary, over his own signature, and the great seal of the state of Pennsylvania, recommending him to the confidence of the Eng- lish people as a "good citizen and of high character, especially distin- guished for his active labors on behalf of temperance reform." While in England, Mr. Stratford established a lodge of the then popular tem- perance fraternity known as the Order of Good Templars. This was the first lodge of that order to be organized in England. After his return from England he continued his active temperance work, only death causing him to cease from his labors.




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