USA > Pennsylvania > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 68
USA > Wyoming > Genealogical and family history of the Wyoming and Lackawanna valleys, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 68
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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
an extensive land owner, possessing some valu- able coal lands, and was identified with the late Messrs. Swetland and Pettibone (sketches of whom appear elsewhere). He originally farmed on the back road in Wyoming (then called Ex- eter), where his children were born. He lived a retired life in Wyoming. Pennsylvania, for a number of years before his death, which occurred November 23, 1882, at seventy-nine years of age. Daniel Van Scoy was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a deacon for many years, being a strict church member. He was a trustee, member of various committees, and was converted when Thomas Pearn was preaching in this district. His wife, Lydia (Young) Van Scoy, was born 1815, daughter of Henry and Ollie Young, died in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, January 19, 1895, at eighty years of age. They were both buried in Forty Fort cemetery.
Henry Y. Van Scoy was reared on his fath- er's farm in Wyoming, Pennsylvania (on the west side), and was educated in the public schools of his district and Wyoming Seminary, Kingston. He began the active duties of life as a farmer on the parental estate and continued thus for many years. About the year 1870 he took up his residence in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and em- barked in the baking business, which proved highly successful. He took an active interest in political affairs, and about 1884 was elected county commissioner and served in that office for one term. He was later appointed postmas- ter of Kingston, a position he held for two terms (eight years), and in the opinion of its patrons his incumbency of office was noted for faithful- ness and efficiency, he being the most capable and best postmaster Kingston ever had. He ruled gently, but firmly, was highly spoken of by the employes, and no infraction of rules was ever permitted. After completing his term of service as postmaster he retired to enjoy the fruits of a well spent life. He was a member of the Ma- sonic fraternity, an adherent to the principles of Democracy, and an attendant of the First Methodist Episcopal Church, of which his widow is a member.
Mr. Van Scoy married, February 8, 1865, Mary Alice Shoemaker, daughter of Isaac and Catherine A. (Shoemaker) Shoemaker (see Shoemaker family), and two children were the issue, namely: Isaac Shoemaker, born Novem- ber 30, 1865, educated in Wyoming Seminary, a member of the firm of Turner & Van Scoy, of Wilkes-Barre, a Mason, Knight Templar and
Shriner; in politics he is a Democrat. He re- sides in Kingston, Pennsylvania. Addie Finch, born September 15, 1870, died at the age of six- teen months, and buried in Forty Fort cemetery. The remains of Mr. Van Scoy were also interred in the same.
H. WATSON BROWNSCOMBE, deceased, who was one of the enterprising business men of the city of Wilkes-Barre, was born October II, 1847, in Mt. Pleasant, New York, son of Rev. Henry and Sarah E. (Overfield) Brownscombe, and grandson of John and Joanna Brownscombe, natives of England, and residents of Bridgrule, Cornwall, England, from whence they emigrated to the United States in 1830, accompanied by their son Henry and two daughters, and after a six weeks voyage landed in Baltimore, Mary- land, and later settled at Bethany, Wayne county, Pennsylvania.
Rev. Henry Brownscombe ( father) was born in Bridgrule, Cornwall, England, August 18, 1817. In early life, prior to leaving his native land, he showed the religious traits which after- wards were so manifest. His education was lim- ited, but being exceedingly fond of reading and possessing a fine library, he acquired a vast amount of knowledge on various subjects. In a celebrated revival in the Methodist Episcopal Church at Honesdale, Pennsylvania, he was con- verted on November 25, 1835, was licensed to preach in 1841, and the same year received on trial in the Oneida conference and sent to Spring- field, Pennsylvania. He was a man in whom many of the best traits of character were pre- eminent, and he devoted his entire attention to looking after the interests of his charge. He was a member of the Wyoming Methodist Episcopal Conference for about fifty years, and during this time served sixteen different charges, three of them the second time, and was for four years presiding elder of the Wyalusing district. He was a member of the board of trustees of this conference, having been first elected in 1858 and continuing in office for twenty-six years, until his death, at the same time serving as secretary of the board and assuming charge of the finances.
Rev. Henry Brownscombe married, August 21, 1843, Sarah E. Overfield, born February 28, 1820, daughter of Paul and Lydia Overfield, of Messhoppen, Pennsylvania. (See Overfield.) They had three children: I. John P., born Oc- tober 13, 1845, in Dundaff, Pennsylvania, died January 30, 1891 : married Jennie Price, daugh- ter of Charles Price and sister of ex-Mayor
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Price of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (See in partnership with the late Dr. E. B. Long, was Price family.) 2. H. Watson, born October II, born in Wyoming, Pennsylvania, August 18, 1869, son of Samuel Raub and Jennie M. (Car- ver) Shoemaker, grandson of Isaac C. and Cath- arine A. (Shoemaker) Shoemaker, great-grand- son of Jacob I. and Elizabeth (Wohlgemuth) Shoemaker, and great-great-grandson of Isaac Shoemaker, a descendant of a German origin. 1847, at Mt. Pleasant, see, forward. 3. Kate, born at Providence (now Scranton) August 27, 1851, died June 22, 1879; she married A. H. Phillips, of Wilkes-Barre, of the firm of Phillips & Moore, real estate dealers. Rev. Henry Brownscombe died at. his home in Wilkes-Barre, April 30, 1886, aged sixty-nine years, greatly la- mented by all. The pallbearers at his funeral were all members of the Wyoming conference. and the interment was in Hollenback cemetery. At his death he left a sum to found two churches on the frontier to bear the names, respectively, of his two sainted children. The Wyoming Sem- inary received his fine library, and he also made other bequests, his modesty preventing all his good deeds from being known.
H. Watson Brownscombe spent his early days in Tunkhannock and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylva- nia. He was educated at Wyoming Seminary, Kingston, from which he graduated in the com- mercial course. He then engaged in quarrying, cutting and shipping building stone, in partner- ship with his brother, John P., with quarries and mills at Meshoppen, Pennsylvania, and conduct- ed an extensive business for a number of years, continuing until his death, after which sad event the business was carried on and greatly enlarged by his brother, John P. Brownscombe, up to the time of his death, January 31, 1891. Both were members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Wilkes-Barre, and John R. was sec- retary of the Sunday school many years. Both were members of the Masonic fraternity and Re- publicans in politics, as were also the other male members of this family.
Mr. Brownscombe married, October 8, 1873. Frances Ann Pearne Shoemaker, daughter of Isaac C. and Catherine A. (Shoemaker) Shoe- maker, of Wyoming, Pennsylvania. (See Shoe- maker family.) Mr. Brownscombe died at his home in Wilkes-Barre, April 9, 1874, at the age of twenty-seven years, in the very prime of his manhood, and was greatly deplored by all who possessed his friendship or acquaintance. He left to his widow an unsullied and exceptional record for strictest integrity and uprightness.
H. E. H.
ARCHIE CARVER SHOEMAKER, ac- tively engaged in the profession of dentistry in Pittston, where he has practiced since April, 1890, the greater portion of which time he was
Isaac Shoemaker, the first of the ancestors of whom there is any definite information, re- moved from the vicinity of Raubville, Northamp- ton county, Pennsylvania, to the Wyoming val- ley in 1807-08. and purchased a farm from Ben- jamin and Gilbert Carpenter. His property at the time of his death, September, 1829, amounted to about three hundred acres of land, a gristmill, sawmill and fulling-mill. He was the father of seven children, three sons and four daughters, namely: Jacob I., of whom further; Samuel, Isaac, Katie, Rosanna, Annie, Sallie.
Jacob I. Shoemaker, son of Isaac Shoe- maker, born January 7, 1785, died 1851. He was a saddler by trade, serving an apprenticeship n Freysbush, New York, where he followed his trade till he removed to Wyoming, Pennsylvania, purchased a farm and operated this in conjunction with the manage- ment of a hotel known as "Shoemaker's Hotel," later known as the Pollock House. Mr. Shoe- maker married, in Freysbush, New York, 1809, Elizabeth Wohlgemuth, born June 4, 1787, died 1839, and was the first person interred in Wyo- ming cemetery. They had eight children: Isaac. C., Mary and Ann, all born in Freysbush, New York : and Katie, Rosanna, William, Margaret. and Sallie, all born in Wyoming valley.
Isaac C. Shoemaker, eldest son of Jacob I .. and Elizabeth (Wohlgemuth) Shoemaker, born in Freysbush, New York, died January 18, 1875. He accompanied his parents upon their removal from New York state to Pennsylvania, they lo- cating in the Wyoming valley. He became the owner and proprietor of the Shoemaker steam grist mills and the Wyoming woolen mill, which he conducted for many years alone, but subse- quently admitted his sons into partnership, and the style of the firm was then changed to I. C. Shoemaker & Sons. He was a man of sterling integrity, and exercised a powerful influence for good in the community. He married, May 25, 1837, Catharine A. Shoemaker, a native of Pennsylvania, and among their children were: Jacob I. (see sketch), Alice, married Henry Van Scoy (see Van Scoy) ; Isaac, a member of the:
24
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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
firm of Turner & Van Scoy, of Wilkes-Barre; Samuel Raub, see forward, and Frances, married H. Watson Brownscombe, lives in Wilkes-Barre.
Samuel Raub Shoemaker, son of Isaac C. and Catharine A. (Shoemaker) Shoemaker, born Wyoming, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1841, died May 2, 1901. Wyoming, and was buried in Forty Fort cemetery. He was a farmer, conducting his op- erations in Wyoming, taking one-half of the homestead farm in 1881, and followed this oc- cupation till 1885, when he retired from active pursuits. He was a member and trustee in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Wyoming, one of the trustees of the Wyoming Cemetery Asso- ciation and a member of the Masonic fraternity, Knights Templar, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Royal Arcanum. He married. at Wyoming, Pennsylvania, January 7. 1868. Jen- nie M. Carver, born Carverton, March 7, 1850, and had two children: Archie Carver, whose name heads this sketch, and Amy, died 1871, Wyoming, aged one and a half years.
Jennie M. (Carver) Shoemaker (eighth gen- eration), wife of Samuel Raub Shoemaker, traced her ancestry on the maternal side to Ste- phen Harding (2), of Providence, Rhode Island. who was formerly a resident of Brain- tree, Massachusetts, and was supposed to be a son of John Harding (I). The next in line was Capt. Stephen Harding (3), born Providence, Rhode Island, 1680, who was the father of Capt. Stephen Harding (4), born 1723, died Eaton (or Exeter ) township, Luzerne county, October II, 1789. He was captain of Seventh Company, Twenty-fourth Regiment Connecticut Militia, at Westmoreland, October, 1775: was in command of Fort Jenkins, Wyoming, July 2, 1778, when compelled to surrender his command of twelve men to Col. John Butler and his Indians and Tories after the massacre, June 30, 1778; was justice of Westmoreland county May. 1778., to May, 1779: member of committee of inspection for Westmoreland county, August I, 1775 : mar- ried, in 1747. Amy Gardner. Elisha Harding, Sr. (5). son of Capt. Stephen and Amy (Gard- ner) Harding, born Colchester, Connecticut, Au- gust 1, 1763. died, Eaton, August 1, 1839: he married. Pittston, 1781. Martha Rider, born Feb- ruary 4. 1766, died, Eaton. April 23. 1832. Elisha Harding, Jr. (6), a magistrate. born, Easton. November 15, 1790. died. Eaton, Feb- ruary 25. 1874: married Pittston, Amy Jenkins (see Jenkins family). born Pittston. December 9. 1795. died. Eaton. February 10, 1831. Nancy Harding (7). daughter of Elisha Harding, Jr.,
and his wife, Amy Jenkins born, Eaton, Decem- ber 24, 1824, died, Wyoming, February 5, 1887. She married, at Easton, Pennsylvania, October 2, 1846, Rufus Carver, born in Carverton, June 22, 1820, died, Wyoming, May 21, 1866, and they were the parents of Jennie M. Carver (8), aforementioned as the wife of Samuel Raub Shoemaker and the mother of Archie Carver Shoemaker.
Archie Carver Shoemaker (9) attended the public schools. of Wyoming, Keystone Academy, Factoryville, Pennsylvania, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, from which he was graduated in March, 1889, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. The same year he began practicing in Wyoming. Pennsylvania, where he continued until April. 1890. when he went to Pittston and entered into a partnership with Dr. E. B. Long. This connection continued until the death of Dr. Long, September, 1904, and from then to the present time (1906) Dr. Shoemaker has continued to practice in the same office. He keeps in touch with the advanced thought of the day along the line of his profession by membership in the Pennsylvania State Dental Society. Susquehanna Dental Society, and Lu- zerne and Lackawanna Dental Societies. He also holds membership in the Free and Accepted Ma- sons, Wyoming : Sons of the Revolution, New England Society, Wyoming Historical and Geo- logical Society. and National Interstate Tele- phone Association. He was formerly a director and treasurer of Jackson (Tennessee) Tele- phone Company, and is now secretary and treas- urer of Kewaunee (Illinois) Telephone Com- pany, and trustee and treasurer of Wyoming Cemetery Association. Wyoming. Dr. Shoe- maker married, January 10, 1895, at Wyoming, Pennsylvania. Mary Searle Green, born April 12, 1870, daughter of James Dean and Martha M. (Searle) Green. (See sketch of James Dean Greene). Their children are: James Samuel, born January, 1896, died January, 1897, buried in Forty Fort cemetery ; Samuel Archibald, born August 21, 1901. H. E. H.
JAMES PRYOR WILLIAMSON. of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. was descended from many lines of distinguished ancestors. He was allied by blood to many prominent New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland families, and was eligible to all Colonial and Revolutionary so- cieties as well as to the Huguenot and Holland Societies. According to Burke and other author- ities, the Williamson family was settled in Pre-
John B Smith
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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
"bleshire, Scotland, as early as 1317, in the rec- words of which shire the family can be traced. From this place they spread into other parts of Scotland. Several descendants of this ancient family came to the American colonies, establish- ing families in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Dela- ware and Virginia. The progenitor of the line to which the subject of our sketch belongs, Duncan Williamson came to America in 1660.
James Pryor Williamson was born in Balti- more, Maryland. December 3, 1839, the son of .James Pryor Williamson, Sr. After grad- uating from the higher schools of Balti- more he became a cotton broker in the employ of his great-uncle, Thomas Wilson, in George- town, D. C., Mr. Wilson was the most promi- nent banker-merchant of Baltimore at this time, and had been for many years, 1855 to 1867, president of the old Baltimore Coal Com- pany. Through his philanthropy many sick children have been restored to health in the institution which he founded-the Wilson Home for Invalid Children. At the outbreak of the war Mr. Williamson enlisted in the Artillery service, Confederate States Army, but, being the sole support of his widowed mother and her orphan children, he was per- suaded to resign from the army by his uncle, Mr. Wilson, who sent him to Wilkes-Barre to handle his coal properties, of which he had great holdings in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
Mr. Williamson immediately established himself in the business world of Wilkes-Barre and in the interests of his adopted city's wel- fare. He entered in 1862 into business with John McNeish, Jr., as McNeish & Williamson, having stores in Plymouth and Wilkes-Barre. Then under the name of Williamson & Com- pany a banking business was established at the corner of the public square and South Main street, where the Lowenstein building now stands, and from this business the present Wilkes-Barre Deposit and Savings Bank de- veloped and was incorporated May 20, 1871. Mr. Williamson was its first cashier and re- mained in that office until August 2, 1878, when he resigned because of failing health. He was a director in this bank from 1876 until his death October 24. 1879. He was one of the volunteer firemen of that time, serving as foreman of Engine Company No. 2, his brother-in-law, the late Judge Stanley Wood- ward, being the chief of the department. As a communicant in St. Stephen's Church he
served as a vestryman from April 10, 1871, to October 24, 1879. He was the first superin- tendent of Calvary Sunday School. North Wilkes-Barre, serving from April 9, 1871, to October 24, 1879. being interested in that church's growth from the very start. He was secretary and a trustee of the Home for Friendless Children, and secretary and treas- tirer of the Wyoming Valley Ice Company of Wilkes-Barre.
He was one of the charter members of Landmark Lodge, No. 442, F. and A. M., Wilkes-Barre, serving as its first worshipful master, and was a member of Coeur de Leon Commandary Knights Templar. of Scranton, serving in the highest offices in that order, and being buried with its ritual by Dieu le Veut Commandary of Wilkes-Barre.
He married, October 10, 1869, Mary H. Woodward, born March, 1849, died October 16, 1884, youngest daughter of the late Chief Justice George Washington Woodward, of the supreme court of Pennsylvania, and his wife, Sarah Elizabeth Trott (see Woodward Fam- ily). Three children blessed this union : Eliz- abeth, died in infancy ; James Pryor, now liv- ing in Wilkes-Barre: and Harriet, married Mr. David Crowell Percival, Jr., of Boston, Massachusetts.
James Pryor Williamson died on October 24, 1879, at the early age of thirty-nine years, leaving behind the memory of an honored life, a precious heritage to a loving and sorrowing wife who survivd him but a short time, and to his children a memory that ever grows more sweet with the passing of the years.
H. E. H.
ABIJAH SMITH AND JOHN B. SMITH. The Smith family of the Wyoming valley in Pennsylvania, of the particular line under con- sideration in these annals, was of good old Connecticut ancestry, their residence there antedating the revolutionary period, and ex- tending back, as family tradition indicates, even to the early days of that colony.
Abijah Smith, of Derby, Connecticut, born there October 3, 1764, settled in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, in 1806, and died there March 6, 1826. In the fall of 1807, Abijah Smith pur- chased an ark of John P. Arndt, a merchant of Wilkes-Barre, which had been used for trans- portation of plaster, loaded it at Plymouth with about fifty tons of anthracite coal, and late in the same year landed this cargo at Col-
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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
umbia, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. This probably was the first cargo of anthracite coal ever offered for sale in this or any other country, and Abijah Smith, of Plymouthi, a na- tive of Connecticut, a Yankee, was a pioneer in the business. He was a man of achieve- ment, and when his life's work was closed, he was found to have accomplished good results. He married, Plymouth, Pennsylvania, June 10, 1810, Esther Ransom, born Plymouth, Oc- tober 12, 1788, died there August 10, 1839, daughter of George Palmer, and Olive (Utley) Ransom, and granddaughter of Samuel and Esther (Lawrence) Ransom. (See Ransom Family). Their children were: Lovisa, born Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, February II, 1812, married, Plymouth, Pennsylvania, Oc- tober 16, 1834 : Samuel Davenport, born Plym- outh, September 21, 1813, died there Septem- ber 22, 1850, they had : Marinda Augusta, married Brice S. Blair ; Almina Harriet, mar- ried Henry Rorbach Noll: Abijah, married Emma Williams Brown ; Sheldon Stanley, died young ; John Ingham, died young; Florence Estella, married Brice S. Blair. 2. Maria, born Plymouth, May 13, 1814, died there 1824.
3. Ransom, born Plymouth, January 21, 1816, died there October 4, 1816. 4. William Ransom, born Plymouth, September 17. 1817, died December 3, 1861 ; married, West Nanti- coke, Pennsylvania, December 8, 1839, Ellen L. Edwards, born Ross township, Pennsyl- vania, September 23, 1822, died March 18, 1882. She married (second) August L. Thomas. He had by his first marriage Anna Maria, Elijah Davenport, married Emily Au- gusta Cease: Francis Draper, married Susan Hannie: Esther Elizabeth, married Michael Ratchford : William Wallace, and Mary Eva- line. 5. John B., born Plymouth, May 26, 1819, mentioned hereafter. 6. Levi C. Mc- Corkle, born Plymouth, January 23, 1825, mar- rid, Plymouth, May 27, 1844. Emily Cook, born Hope, New Jersey, September 14, 1823, died Kingston, Pennsylvania, August 29, 1880. Levi McCorkle Smith is a banker at Golden, Colorado. His children were: Leander Jack- son, married Ada Church; Emily Josephine, married Patrick McPike: Major; Caroline; Charles Edgar, married Martha Ann Parsons ; Abijah George; Lizzie Ellen, married Isaac Grahart Eckert; Stella May.
John B. Smith was born in Plymouth town- ship, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, Mav 26, 1819, at the spot where the Smith Opera House
now stands, and which was built by him in honor of his parents. His education was limited to the meager facilities afforded by the Plymouth Acad- emy at the time of his boyhood. He earned his first money when twelve years of age digging potatoes, and during the following two sum- mers he worked on a farm for Frank Turner,. deceased, also of Plymouth, for which he re- ceived a shilling a day. When he was sixteen years of age he engaged with the firm of Smith & Wright, of Newark, New Jersey, of which his half brother, Fitch, was the senior member, to learn the saddler's trade. He remained just nine- days and then came by boat to Easton, Pennsyl- vania, and from there walked to Plymouth. The- following day he began an apprenticeship at cabinet making, which he followed a year and a half, and then entered the employ of his broth- er-in-law, Samuel Davenport, in a general mer- cantile business. When he was twenty-one he became a partner in the business, succeeding to. the proprietorship when Mr. Davenport died in 1849, and continued alone till 1864, when he ad- mitted his nephew, Abijah Davenport Smith, as partner, and he continued in the business until 1870. Many years prior to his retirement from mercantile business, Mr. Smith began acquiring- interests in coal lands, developing and operating them, and buying and selling as opportunity of- fered to his advantage. He began in a small, way at first, worked out his plans after his own ideas, and he was rarely mistaken in his conclu- sions. He purchased the coal business of Heber & Crouse, of Plymouth, in 1862, and in July, 1864, sold it for $51,000. He was a large oper- ator, and at times a bold one, but he seemed to. see the end from the beginning, and the result of his endeavors was a financial fabric of good proportions and the confidence and regard of the- business and financial world. Mr. Smith was. otherwise interested in personal and private en- terprises, being for many years and up to the time of his death president of the First Na- tional bank of Plymouth, which he organized, builder and owner of the Smith Opera House- in Plymouth, and interested in several other un- dertakings by which the public was benefited as well as hmself. He was the owner of five large. farms in Pennsylvania, and a tract of 3,860 acres: in one of the best gold districts of Colorado, .which apart from its fertile soil, has been pro- nounced by experts as an unusually good gold field. Besides these vast estates, he owned and. dealt in town property to a great extent in Nan- ticoke, Forty Fort, Plymouth and adjoining-
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THE WYOMING AND LACKAWANNA VALLEYS.
towns. He was president of the Kingston and Dallas Turnpike Company from its organiza- tion until his death. He was interested in agri- culture, or better, practical farming, and was a delegate, by Governor Pattison's appointment, to the Farmers' American Congress at Sedalia, Missouri, in November, 1891. He was also a member of the Farmers' State Board. A member of Shawnee Lodge, No. 225, I. O. O. F., of Plymouth. For fifty years a mem- ber of the Christian Church of Plymouth, and a member of the board of trustees, the last surviv- ing member of the original trustees. In his po- litical views he always advocated the principles of the Republican party, and represented the dis- trict in the state legislature at Harrisburg from 1876 to 1880. He was a close, careful reader, a friend of the schools and education, generally, and his business life and career indicated that he inherited many of his father's personal char- acteristics, and especially his habits of industry, thrift, and progressiveness. During the latter years of his life he travelled extensively, and profited by observation of and contact with men of business and social station. It may truth- fully be said of him that he was the "architect of his own fortune," but while he builded for himself he likewise was a factor for good in the business history of his native township, and also in the town of his adoption.
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