USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 27
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 27
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Col. Nathan Denison (5), second child of Nathan and Ann (Carey) Denison, born Janu- ary 25, 1741, married, Wilkes-Barre, April 1, 1769, Elizabeth Sill, born November 22. 1750, eldest daughter of Jabez Sill. Colonel Nathan died Kingston, January 25, 1809. He came to Pennsylvania in 1769. John Sill came to Cam- bridge, Mass., before 1638, and that year was made a freeman. His son Capt. Joseph Sill, of Lyme, was born in England about 1636. His son Joseph, born January 6. 1679, mar- ried at Lyme, 1705. Phebe Lord, second daughter of Lieut. Richard Lord and his wife Elizabeth Hyde. Jabez Sill, the father of Eliz- abeth, wa's born in Lyme. August 4, 1722 ; mar- ried December 28, 1719. Elizabeth Noyes, daugh- ter of Moses Noyes and his wife Mary Ely, of Lyme, and lived in Lyme until 1770, when they removed to Wilkes-Barre, where Jabez died in 1790.
Col. Nathan Denison was the pioneer of his
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family in the wilderness regions of Wyoming, in the valley of the Susquehanna. He was the worthy descendant of patriotic New England an- cestors, the worthy great-grandson of Capt. George Denison, whose deeds of valor challenged the admiration of all loyal New Englanders, much as did those of the equally loyal Nathan a century afterward. When he came into the Wyoming valley as a settler under the Connecti- cut colony, it was with the intention to live a farmers life, but destiny decreed otherwise, for, almost from the beginning of his residence there, his fellow settlers made him their counsellor and called him into service in official capacity. He was a man of substance and education, and from the first was looked upon as the guiding spirit of the community. In 1774 he was appointed justice of the peace of the town of Westmore- land in the colony of Connecticut, and on June I, 1778, was made one of the judges for the county of Westmoreland, for the same colony. In 1776- 78-79 and 1780 he represented the county in the Connecticut general assembly. He was also a member of the council of Pennsylvania from Lu- zerne county for the years 1787-89, previous to the reorganization of state government under the constitution of 1790. August 17, 1791, Colonel Denison was appointed one of the associate judges of Luzerne county. From this and his earlier appointment to magisterial office under the Connecticut colony he acquired the title of "Judge," by which he was afterward known, al- though he always retained the military title of "Colonel." This title was a deserved honor and was fairly won. Colonel Denison commanded the left wing of the patriot forces in the battle and massacre of Wyoming, July 3, 1778, and he signed the articles of capitulation by which the property and defenses of the settlers were yielded to the conquering Britons, their Tory followers and their inhuman Indian allies. The seventh section of the terms of surrender read as follows : "That the inhabitants that Colonel Denison now capitulates for, together with himself, do not take up arms during the present contest."
Colonel Denison died January 25, 1809, aged
sixty-eight years. In writing of him, Miner said. "The universal respect and confidence that attended Colonel Denison, from the battle to the time of his death, attest the high estimation in which his character was held among the inhabi- tants of Wyoming who were witnesses of and affected by his conduct." Again, the same writer says: "His conduct on that day was that of a faithful and brave officer. Outflanked and over- powered by a vast superiority of numbers the change of position, wisely ordered, became a re- treat-the retreat, a rout-the battle, a massacre."
The children of Colonel Nathan and Eliza- beth (Sill) Denison were :
I. Lazarus Denison (6) born December 5, 1773, married February 14, 1802, Elizabeth Car- penter. He lived in Kingston, and died there March 15, 1841. Children: I. Hiram, born Jan- uary 9, 1803 ; died 1868. 2. Mary, born Septem- ber 22, 1804: married Chauncey A. Reynolds. 3. Wayman, born April 21, 1806; died 1828. 4. Nathan, born May 22, 1808: died 1831. 5. Ben- jamin C., born July 22, 1810 ; married Florence Johnson. 6. Sarah, born March, 1812; married Gilbert Reilay. 7. Elizabeth, born April 12, 1814; married William Hancock. 8. Charles, born Jan- uary 23, 1816 ; married Ellen E. Hulings, daugh- ter of Judge Hulings of Lewistown.
2. Elizabeth S. Denison (6) born March 7. 1777, married May 28, 1800, Elijah Shoemaker. (See Shoemaker family.)
3. Mary Denison (6), born January 2, 1779, married about 1802, Thomas Patterson, born Ireland, July 7, 1775. They lived in Huntington, Luzerne county, where he was a farmer and school teacher. He died April 29, 1844; she died June 1, 1858. Children: I. Nathan, born May 5, 1803; married Susan Letchworth. 2. Thomas, born February 15, 1806; married Anna M. Haff. 3. Elizabeth, born March 17, 1808; married D. A. Bowman. 4. Ezekiel M., born May 6. 1810 ; married Henrietta Deeth, 5. Mary Ann, born January 22, 1812 ; married John D. Thomp- son. 6. Robert S., born May 22, 1816; married Minerva D. Trescott. 7. Sally D., born June 27, 1819; married Richard Sharpe. (See Sharpe
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family ). 8. John D., born December 23. 1821 ; married (first) Margaret Reilay and ( second) Charlotte Shotwell.
4. Ann Denison (6), born February 22, 1783, died Kingston, June 4, 1823 ; married Dan- iel Turner, died November 5, 1863 : one child : George D., born December 27, 1809 : a merchant at Mt. Hope, New Jersey.
5. John Denison (6) born June 20, 1787; died July 27. 1840 : married (first) Laura Fel- lows, died February 20, 1824 : married (second) Mary Watkins, died November 22, 1850. Chil- dren : I. Stanley, born February 13. 1815 : mar- ried September 12, 1849, Jane Haughn. 2. Eliza- beth, born June 12, 1816; married William A. McGriffe. 3. Amanda, born August 16, 1817; married Rev. Isaac Swisher. 4. Wesley, born De- cember 6, 1818; married Ann M. Loomis. 5. Samanthe, born September 26, 1820: died De- cember 6. 1839. 6. Orville, born August 4, 1822 ; married Marinda Haltsman. 7. Howton, born January 22, 1844; died young. 8. Emily, twin, born January 1. 1825; married John Thorp. 9. Laura, twin, born January 1, 1825 ; married J. P. Niman. 10. Henry, born January 22, 1827 ; died April 5. 1856: II Asa C., born October II, 1829 : died August 15, 1854.
6. George Denison (6), born February 22, 1790 ; married 1814. Caroline, daughter of Eben- ezer Bowman. He died August 20, 1831 : she died July 1, 1833. Children : 1. Charles, born January 23, 1816; died June 27, 1867. 2. Harriet, born 1818. 3. George, born July 27, 1820 ; gradu- ated Dickinson College, 1841 ; died May II, 1843. 4. Henry M., born August 1, 1822; was a Clergymen. 5. Mary W., born July 2, 1824 : died unmarried August 19, 1843.
George Denison was register and recorder of Luzerne county, 1812-15 : clerk of Wilkes-Barre borough council, 1812-14 : president of the coun- cil, 1823-24 : was six times elected to the legisla- ture-1815-16, 1827-30: was in congress from 1818 to 1822: was appointed deputy attorney general of Pennsylvania 1824; was presidential elector 1828: was burgess of Wilkes-Barre bor- ough 1829-30.
Charles Denison, youngest son and child of
Lazarus and Elizabeth Denison, was born Janu- ary 23, 1816, died June 27, 1867 ; married May 7. 1845, Ellen E. Hulings of Norfolk, Virginia, daughter of David W. Hulings, and wife Maria Patten. Charles was educated at Dickinson Col- lege, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, graduated, 1838: read law in Wilkes-Barre with George W. Wood- ward ; admitted to the bar August 13, 1840, and practiced in Wilkes-Barre until 1863, from which time until his death he represented Lu- zerne county in congress. On the occasion of his death Senator Buckalew said of Mr. Denison : "He was able to concentrate upon himself a large measure of popular favor, and possessed some marked qualities of mind and character for commanding it. His will was firm, his industry constant, his temper steady, though sometimes pronounced, and his courage unquestionable." Others of his eulogists were Simon Cameron and Samuel J. Randall.
Children of Charles and Ellen E. Denison were: I. Charles, born April 12, 1846, mar- ried Matilda Steinhardt, April 30, 1873. 2. George, born August 28, 1848, died August 28, 1850. 3. Elizabeth, born October II, 1851 : mar- ried George A. Brett, of Isle of Wight, England. 4. Henry G., born January 28, 1854. died April 6. 1856. 5. Maria, born November 13, 1856, mar- ried son of Sir Hugh Daily, acting Governor- general of India. 6. Hiram, born May 21. 1859, died July 31, 1863. 7. Mary H., born May 20, 1861 : married (first) Richard Winslow and ( second) Mons Brule de St. Germain.
Charles Denison. eldest son and child of Charles Denison and Ellen (Hulings) Denison, was educated in the public schools, and also in the Baptist College in Washington, D. C. Subse- quently he matriculated at the Philadelphia Den- tal College, and for a time studied law with his uncle, Lloyd W. Williams. He practiced den- tistry for several years, but retired compara- tively early from professional work. From 1870 to 1874 he travelled extensively in Europe. Chil- dren of Charles and Matilda ( Steinhardt ) Deni- son were: I. Anna Matilda, born March 4. 1876. 2. Charles F. Denison, born October 14. 1877.
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NESBITT FAMILY. James Nisbet, the New York, and thence in 1769 to the Wyoming third of his name in the Loudoun family of Nis- valley in Pennsylvania, he being one of the one hundred and ninety-six settlers enrolled at Wyoming June 2, 1769, "to man their rights." He took an active part in the controversy between the Pennsylvania authorities and the Connecticut set- tlers at Wyoming, and also was a participant in the events of the Revolutionary war which were enacted in that historic region. ( For a more par- ticular account of his life and service, the reader is referred to the published work of Oscar Jewell Harvey, entitled "The Harvey Book".) bets, set sail from Leith, September 5. 1685, in the ship, "Henry and Francis," and landed at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, December 20 of the same year. James Nisbet, says Harvey, began his life in the new world in the same month that his uncle, Capt. John Nisbet, came to a martyr's end on the scaffold in Edinburgh-fifth and last of the Nisbets in Loudoun to suffer violent death for conscience's sake. This James Nisbet re- remained only a short time in Perth Amboy, and then settled in Woodbridge, New Jersey, remov- ing thence in 1690 to Newark. From the best evidence obtainable it is quite certain that he mar- ried in Newark, 1695 or 1696, and that he died there about 1720, leaving one son
Samuel Nesbitt, born Newark, 1697, and who was frequently mentioned as 'the son of the exile from Scotland." "Whether or not," says Mr. Os- car Jewell Harvey, the genealogist of the family "James Nisbet, 'the exile' changed the spelling of his surname when he changed his home and coun- try, can not now be ascertained, but it is certain that by his son the family name was spelled 'Nesbitt.'" Samuel Nesbitt was by trade a weaver. In 1717 he married Abigail Harrison, daughter of Samuel Harrison and Mary Ward. Samuel Nesbitt died in Newark, March 12, 1733. His children were: I. James, born June 15, 1718, died July 2, 1792: Abigail, born 1720. 3. Sam- uel, born 1723 ; a settler with his elder brother James under The Susquehanna Company at Wilkes-Barre; returned in 1773 to Newark and died there. 4. John, born 1725, died Newark, New Jersey, December 13, 1812.
James Nisbitt, eldest son and child of Sam- uel Nesbitt and Abigail Harrison, was a soldier in the colonial army during the French and Eng- lish wars, which were renewed in 1744, and was one of the six hundred troops sent by the prov- ince of New Jersey in the spring of 1746 to Al- bany, New York, to take part in the campaign proposed for the reduction of Canada. In 1748 he married, and in 1760 removed with his wife and four children to Fairfield county, Connecticut ; thence in 1763 to "Greycourt," Orange county,
James Nisbitt was one of the first justices of the peace under the Connecticut sovereignty in the Wyoming region, and also was one of the first judges of the common pleas under Pennsylvania authority. He served in both offices until June, 1788, when he resigned. He died at his home in Plymouth, July 2, 1792. He married, in New- ark, New Jersey, 1748, Phebe Harrison, born '1728, died February 17, 1802, his second cousin, daughter of Stephen Harrison; and they had children : I. Jonas, born February 7, 1749. died young. 2. Abigail, born November 12, 1750, died young. 3. Hannah, born November 18, 1752, died before 1792. 4. Elizabeth, born November II, 1754. 5. Samuel, born December 20, 1756, died young. 6. Phebe, born February 18. 1759. 7. Abigail, born June 6, 1761. 8. Abram, born Sep- tember 12, 1763, died January 2, 1847. 9. Mary, born September 18, 1765, died August 1I, 1824. IO. Sarah, born September 8, 1767, died February 15, 1824. II. Rachel, born January 8, 1770, died young. 12. James, born May 7. 1773, died Au- gust 16, 1837.
Abram Nisbitt, eighth child of James Nisbitt and wife Phebe Harrison, was born in Fairfield county, Connecticut, September 12, 1763, and removed with other members of his father's fam- ily to Orange county, New York, and thence to Plymouth in the Wyoming valley in the spring of 1773. He was hardly more than fourteen years old at the time of the battle of Wyoming. yet he was left with other boys and a few old men to garrison Shawnee Fort. £ He fled with his mother and others on the day of the battle and returned to Wyoming late in 1779; and in
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March, 1780, enlisted as a private in Captain Franklin's company of Connecticut militia. His military service from that time, together with his subsequent achievements in the more peaceful avocations of life, are fully set forth in "The Harvey Book," to which the reader's attention is directed. Abram Nisbitt always spelled his surname as here given. He married, in Plym- outh, Pennsylvania, May 25, 1787, Bethiah Wheeler, born January 1, 1770, died January 15, 1861, daughter of David Wheeler and wife Sarah Banks. David Wheeler, born May 1I, 1746, was son of Lemuel Wheeler and Bethiah Bronson ; Lemuel Wheeler was son of Thomas Wheeler and wife Sarah Stiles ; Thomas Wheeler was son of John Wheeler of Fairfield, Connecticut (and Ruth his wife), who was son of John Wheeler of Concord, Massachusetts, and of Fairfield, Con- necticut, 1644. Children of Abram and Bethiah (Wheeler) Nisbitt: 1. James, born October 15, 1790, died October 9, 1840. 2. Sarah, born Janu- ary 3, 1793, died October 1, 1866; married Ben- jamin Harvey. 3. Mary, born August 27, 1795, died December 3, 1797. 4. John, born March 2, 1798, died December 7, 1808. 5. Bethiah, born June 28, 1800, died March 21, 1860. 6. Abner, born September 13, 1808, died October 12, 1824. 7. Abram, born November 1, 1803, died Septem- ber 4, 1834. 8. Luther, born July 19, 1806, died in Ohio, December 1, 1881. 9. John Wheeler, born September 13, 1808, died October 12, 1824. IO. Charles Miner, born December 28, 1810, died August 12, 1884, in Indiana.
James Nesbitt, eldest son and child of Abram and Bethiah (Wheeler) Nisbitt, was born in Plymouth, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, Octo- ber 15, 1790, and died in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsyl- vania, October 9. 1840. He was brought up on his father's farm and lived at home with his parents until he was married. He was well educated for his time, having been a student under Jonah Rogers in the old Plymouth academy. He took much interest in early militia affairs, and was lieutenant of the Plymouth company in the first battalion, second regiment, ninth division of state militia. After about five years service he was promoted captain, and thus acquired the title by
which he was afterward known. In 1816 he was tax collector, and in 1824 was assessor of Plym- outh township ; and was one of the first board of directors of the old Wyoming Bank of Wilkes- Barre. In 1832 he was the anti-masonic candi- date for sheriff of Luzerne county, and was elected ; and in 1835 he was elected to the legis- lature ; but was defeated when he was a candidate for re-election in 1836. When he was elected sheriff he removed with his family from his farm in Plymouth. to Wilkes-Barre, and when his term of office had expired, he engaged in mercantile pursuits.
When Captain Nesbitt died, Colonel Wright wrote of him: "He was a man of unusual busi- ness qualifications, and left a large estate to his son and his daughter." James Nesbitt married, Plymouth, November 12, 1815, Mary Shupp, born June 2, 1791. died December 3, 1864, eld- est child of Col. Philip Shupp and wife Catharine Everett. Philip Shupp was born about 1754 in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, of German parents. About 1806-7 he removed to Plymouth, Pennsylvania, and about 1808 erected on the creek, which was named for him, a grist mill. This mill he operated until 1817, when his son Philip became his partner and continued it until 1822. Colonel Shupp died in Plymouth, March 1823. Children of James and Mary (Shupp) Nesbitt :
I. Mary Ann, born September 15, 1826, died May 4. 1857 : married Wilkes-Barre, September 9, 1845, Samuel Hoyt, born Kingston, Pennsyl- vania, November 2, 1816, second child of Elias hoyt, who was fourth child of Deacon Daniel Hoyt and wife Anne Gunn of Danbury, Connec- ticut, who settled in Kingston, Pennsylvania, in 1794. Daniel Hoyt was a descendant of the sixth generation of Simon Hoyt, one of the founders of Windsor, Connecticut, 1636. Samuel Hoyt and Mary Ann Nesbitt, had children : James Nesbitt Hoyt, born June 28, 1846, died July 12, 1847: Emily Hoyt, born August 15, 1849, died June 24, 1889, unmarried ; Lydia Hoyt, born October 18, 1851, died March 5, 1874, unmarried ; War- ren N. Hoyt, born September 20, 1854, died March 1, 1877
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2. Abram, born December 29, 1831, married September 2, 1862, Sara MI. Goodwin, born Sep- tember 30, 1832, died February 22, 1894, third and youngest daughter of Abram Goodwin and wife Sarah Myers. Abram was born Kings- ton, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1790, died May 15, 1880, son of Abraham and Catherine (King) Goodwin. Abraham Goodwin was the first of his surname in the Wyoming valley. In 1794 he bought a farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Exeter township, and there moved and lived un- til his death, July 18, 1822. Abraham and Cath- erine had children : John, Catherine, Abraham (Abram), Amos, William, Henry, Isaac, Benja- min, Charlotte, Eliza and Polly (Mary).
Abram Nesbitt, youngest child and only son of Captain James and Mary (Shupp) Nesbitt, was born in Plymouth, Luzerne county, and for more than half a century has been an important factor in the business and industrial history of that township, of Kingston, of Wilkes-Barre, and in- deed of several other of the more prominent com- mercial centers of the anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania. A proper narrative of the work of achievement wrought by him during his fifty and more years belongs to a volume rather than a condensed genealogical sketch which is in- tended chiefly as a family record.
When he was less than a year old Abram's parents removed from Plymouth to Wilkes- Barre, in which place (then a borough), his youth was spent. He attended school at "Dea- con" Dana's academy, and in 1845 entered Wyoming Seminary, but soon returned to the academy, and afterward attended the seminary, when he moved with his mother to Kingston. But he soon left school and took up land sur- veying with his brother-in-law, Samuel Hoyt, and became an expert civil engineer and sur- veyor. This profession occupied his time for something like eight or ten years, but in the meantime he drifted into various other business enterprises ; was one of the organizers and first directors of the Second National Bank of Wilkes- Barre, its vice-president from 1871 to 1877, and its president since that time; was first chosen member of the board of directors of the central
poor district of Luzerne county, and still serves. in that capacity. He has been closely associate with the municipal history of Kingston since the- borough was incorporated in 1857, and with its institutions, its schools, its churches, as well as. its business interests. He has been trustee and_ treasurer of the Forty Fort Cemetery Associa- tion ; was one of the organizers of the Wyoming Valley Coal Company, of the Spring Brook Water Company, and its successor the Spring Brook Water Supply Company, the latter a heav- . ily capitalized corporation. In a prominent way he has been identified with numerous other en- terprises, public and private, among them the Consumers Gas Company, the Gas Company of Luzerne County, the Wilkes-Barre Electric Light Company, the Wilkes-Barre Hotel Company, the- Vulcan Iron works, the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, the Wyoming Valley Cutlery Com- pany, the Wilkes-Barre Theatre Company, the People's Telephone Company, and other similar- concerns. Since 1883 Mr. Nesbitt has been a trustee of Wyoming Seminary, one of its life di- rectors, and for several years vice-president of its board of trustees. Nesbitt Hall, erected by Abram Nesbitt an 1884, was his voluntary and generous gift to the trustees of the famous insti- tution. The building is of brick construction, with red sandstone trimmings, one hundred feet long, seventy feet deep, three stories high. Its. cost was forty thousand dollars.
Children of Abram and Sarah Myers (Good -. win) Nesbitt: I. Walter J., born September 22, 1863, died April 20, 1864. 2. George Francis,. born January 24, 1865, died November 27, 1900. 3. Abram Goodwin, born November 18, 1866. 4. Ralph, born January 9, 1869, died February- 18, 1875. 5. Sara, born September 12, 1872 ; mar- ried March 28, 1904, Hugh Clayton Smythe, of Pittston, Pennsylvania, a lawyer in Wilkes- Barre; they have one child, Abraham Nesbitt Smythe, born March 3, 1905. 6. Fred, born June 23, 1875 : is treasurer of the Easton Foundry and Machine Company ; married, November 20, 1900, Margaret K. Lachenour, daughter of the late- Dr. H. D. Lachenour, of Easton, Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Nesbitt and children-George,.
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Abraham, Sara and Fred, are all life members of the Wyoming Historical and Geological So- ciety. H. E. H.
ANSART FAMILY. The first of the name in this country was Colonel Louis (Ansart) de Maresquelle, a member of the French nobility. His full name was Marie Louis Armand Ansart de Maresquelle. His father, Robert Xavier An- sart, was a marquis, (seigneur du petit vendin) his mother, Quiellemine de Ware, daughter of Jacques Francis, baron de Ware, and great- granddaughter of Jacques de Ware, who had been embassador to the King of Spain, and her great-grandmother was daughter of Baron Parker.
He was born in France (1742) probably in Hesdin in the north of France or in that vi- cinity. He was a captain in the French army, and came to this country in 1776 and when in Boston, Massachusetts, the council of Massachu- setts, the 2d of November, 1776, passed a resolu- tion relative to erecting a furnace for casting cannon, etc., and appointed a committee with authority "to employ Monsieur de Maresquelle, a French Engineer now in Boston" and on the 9th of December, 1776, the following agree- ment between De Maresquelle and the state of Massachusetts was ratified: "The State to fur- nish the land and everything necessary for build- ings, and cannon ; he to construct the furnace and direct the buildings and everything relating to the foundry ; to furnish one cannon ready for service every twenty-four hours, out of the com- mon ore of Massachusetts ; to prove his cannon before commissioners appointed by the State; to disclose all his knowledge in the premises at any time to those designated by the state and to none others; to forfeit his pay, and 1000 pounds sterling in addition, if he did not fully comply with this agreement ; to receive $300 in hand to defray expenses of removal hither and $1000 yearly during the continuance of the war, and $666.66 yearly thereafter, during his life if he did comply, finally to have a colonel's commis- sion to give him rank, but without command or pay in virtue of said commission." He imme-
diately entered on the discharge of his duties, and so continued until the end of the war. The exe- cutive council of Massachusetts appointed Col- onel de Maresquelle as engineer August 31, 1778, to oversee and direct the erection of such works as Vice Admiral Count D'Estang should think necessary to secure his ships lying in Nantasket Roads, Boston harbor, against the enemies sup- posed to be in the bay. Said Louis de Mares- quelle reported as "Colonel of Artillery and In- spector General of Founderies."
The record dated June 10, 1783, also shows account of said Maresquelle for services as col- cnel from August 5, 1782, to February 5, 1783. He continued in the service of the state until the end of the Revolutionary war.
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