USA > Pennsylvania > Berks County > Historical and biographical annals of Berks County, Pennsylvania, embracing a concise history of the county and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families, Volume I > Part 75
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GOV. JOHN ANDREW SHULZE was not a resi- dent of Berks county when elected Governor, but his birth and earlier life in the county entitle him to a place in this work. He was born in Tulpehocken township, Berks county, July 19, 1775, son of Rev. Christian Shulze, a Lutheran clergyman. His mother was Eve Elizabeth Muhlenberg, the oldest daughter of Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. He was liberally educated in the ministry, and regularly ordained as a minister in 1796, and he as- sisted his father for eight years in the discharge of pas- toral duties to several congregations in Berks, Lebanon and Lancaster counties. Owing to a rheumatic affection, he was obliged to relinquish preaching in 1804. He then moved to Myerstown, then in Dauphin county, and pur- stted the business of merchant. In 1806 he was elected a member of the State Legislature, and afterward twice re-
Upon retiring from office he removed to Lycoming county, where he continued to reside until 1846. During that period he was engaged in certain extensive specu- lations in this great and enterprising county, but he was not successful in them. Then he moved to Lancaster, where he continued to reside till his death, Nov. 18, 1852. He was a superior man, and he enjoyed the high esteem of his fellow-citizens for his many excellent personal and social characteristics. He was one of the few really prominent men whom this county has produced. His pre- decessor in the gubernatorial chair of this State was Joseph Hiester, who was elected to this high office from Berks county.
GEORGE EGE was born March 9, 1748, and died Dec. 14, 1829, aged eighty-one years, nine months. During his long and active business career he was extensively known as the largest landowner of his time in Berks county, and prominently identified with the iron interests of the county for a period of half a century. In 1774 he purchased an interest in Charming Forge for eight hundred and thirty-eight pounds. Nine months later he bought the remaining interest for one thousand six hundred and sixty-three pounds, and became its sole owner and man- ager. In 1804 he built and operated Schuylkill County Forge, near Port Clinton, then in Berks, now in Schuyl- kill county. At that time he was possessed of the fol- lowing landed estates: Charming Forge, with four thous- and acres; Reading Furnace, with six thousand acres; Schuylkill Forge, with six thousand acres: and four large farms in Tulpehocken and Heidelberg townships, embrac- ing one thousand acres. The names of these farms were "Spring," "Sheaff," "Leiss" and "Richards." In 1824 the assessed value of his personal and real estate was three hundred and eighty thousand dollars. During the Revo- lutionary war he was an ardent patriot, and in 1783 was a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania. In 1791 he was appointed one of the first associate judges of Berks county under the Constitution of 1790, and served continuously with marked ability until 1818, a pe- riod of twenty-eight years, when he resigned the position to devote himself exclusively to his extensive business interests. He died at his home at Charming Forge, in Marion township, Berks county, and his remains were interred in the cemetery of Womelsdorf.
Judge Ege married Elizabeth Oberfeldt, of Amboy, N. J., by whom he had three children, George, Rebecca and Michael. There are no descendants of George now liv-
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BIOGRAPHICAL
ing; Rebecca married Joseph Old and died without issue; place, Aug. 3, 1818. The following obituary appeared in Michael married Maria Margaretta Shulze, daughter of the Berks and Schuylkill Journal, published at Reading, Aug. 8, 1818 : Rev. Mr. Shulze, pastor of Tulpehocken church. One of the grandchildren of Michael and Margaretta Ege, Har- riet, married John Ermentrout, and lived at Reading to an advanced age.
CHARLES EVANS, founder of the superb cemetery at Reading which bears his name, was born in Philadelphia March 30, 1768. His parents were David Evans, of Philadelphia, and Letitia Thomas, of Radnor, both mem- bers of the Society of Friends. He received a good edu- cation, and when twenty years of age, entered the office of Benjamin Chew, Esq., a distinguished lawyer at Phila- delphia, for the purpose of reading law. He was admitted to the Bar in June, 1791, and two months afterward went to Reading to practice law. In his profession he was faithful, capable and diligent. He continued in active business till 1828, and then retired with an ample for- tune. In 1846 he founded the Charles Evans Cemetery, situated in Reading, and established it firmly by large donations of money and grants of property. He died Sept. 5, 1847, and was buried in the cemetery of his en- dowment. He married Mary Keene, daughter of Reynold Keene and Christiania Stille, his wife, both of Philadelphia. He was the first philantrophist at Reading. Strange to say, notwithstanding this incentive to others who have been engaged in business at Reading and accumulated fortunes, not a single individual since then has been moved to make a similar gift, donation or grant for a public cause.
GEN. JACOB BOWER, prominent Revolutionary hero and county official of Berks county, was born at Reading in September, 1757. When eighteen years old, he enlisted in the stirring cause of the Revolution, becoming sergeant in the company of Capt. George Nagel (the first com- pany raised at Reading). He marched with this company to Cambridge, Mass., in July, 1775, and participated in the first battles for freedom in that vicinity. In July, 1776, he became captain of a company of the "Flying Camp" in the Pennsylvania line; and he afterward served as captain of different companies in the Continental line, until the close of the war for independence, in 1783. He was one of the American officers who organized the General So- ciety of the Cincinnati, May 13, 1783, in the Cantonment of the Hudson river ; and he was one of the original mem- bers in the formation of the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, which convened at Philadelphia, Oct. 4, 1783.
When the war was over, Captain Bower returned to Reading. After serving for some years as a clerk in the county offices, the Governor selected him to fill various local positions, in which he was active for some ten years, serving as sheriff from 1788 to 1790; as county com- missioner, 1790-1793; as recorder, registrar and clerk of the Orphans' Court, 1792-1798; and as county auditor from 1799 to 1800. He was also delegated by the Governor in 1793 to act as one of the commissioners in the establish- ing of a branch bank of Pennsylvania at Reading.
Immediately after the Revolution, a complete system of militia was organized in Pennsylvania, and Captain Bower, on account of his former services, was selected as major of the 1st Regiment, Pennsylvania Militia, in Berks county. He kept up an active interest in the mili- tary affairs of the country until his decease. He partici- pated also in the war of 1812-15, serving as brigadier- general of the 1st Brigade, 6th Division, Pennsylvania Militia, by appointment of Governor Snyder. During the trying winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge, General Bower was stationed there and his "Orderly Book," in which he kept a record of the transactions of the officers from April 9, 1778, to June 17, 1778, is an interesting relic, con- sisting of two small volumes, and is still in the posses- sion of the family.
"Died at Wommelsdorf, in this county, on Monday last, after a tedious and severe illness, aged sixty-one years, Gen. Jacob Bower. The deceased was a faithful and active'officer during the whole of the Revolutionary war. He sacrificed at the shrine of Liberty a large patrimony, but, like many other veterans of the Revolution, was doomed to feel the stings of adversity in his old age."
Gen. Bower married Rebecca Wood, daughter of Col. Joseph and Mary (Scull) Wood, the latter of Phila- delphia. Colonel Wood died from wounds received at Fort Ticonderoga, in the Revolution. To this union were born six children. Among the many descendants still living are: Mr. Robert Scott Bower, of Philadelphia; Dr. William Bower and Mr. Addison Bower, of Myerstown, Pa .; Col. Thomas Potter, Jr., Quartermaster-General of Pennsylvania; Hon. William Potter, President of Jeffer- son Medical College of Philadelphia and ex-United States Minister to Italy; Mr. Charles A. Potter, of Philadelphia; and Col. Henry A. Potter and Mrs. Stephen Jones Meeker, of Orange, N. J. We present General Bower's autograph herewith.
The father of General Bower and the ancestor of this prominent family of Pennsylvania was Conrad Bower, a pioneer settler of Reading, who became one of the city's largest property holders. He married Catherine Hoover, and they had the following children: Jacob; George; Catherine, m. John Spohn; Barbara, m. Henry Miller; Susanna, m. John Truckenmiller; and Eve, m. Michael Harvey. After the death of Conrad Bower in 1765, in the following year, his widow became the second wife of Michael Bright, a man of substance, and she died in 1814.
JEREMIAH HAGENMAN, third elected President Judge of Berks county, from 1875 to 1889, was born at Phoenixville, Pa., Feb. 6, 1820. He obtained a preparatory education in the schools of that town, and when sixteen years of age engaged in teaching; then he removed to Reading, where he entered the public schools and prose- cuted higher branches of study till he was nineteen years old. He then began the study of law under Peter Filbert, Esq., teaching occasionally while pursuing his legal studies, and was admitted to the Bar April 7, 1842. He opened an office, and soon entered upon an active prac- tice, which he conducted successfully for seventeen years, when he was elected additional law judge of Berks county. In 1875, upon the elevation of the Hon. Warren J. Woodward to the Supreme Bench of the State, he was promoted to the office of president judge, and in 1879 he was re-elected for another term of ten years. The attorneys always appreciated his courtesy on the Bench, and the younger attorneys found him possessed of a kindly spirit and great indulgence. He became interested in politics soon after his admission to the Bar, and was prominently identified with the movements of the Demo- cratic party from 1850 till 1869. He attended many State Conventions as a delegate; and in 1868 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1850 he was elected the first district attorney (under the act then passed creating the office), and after serving three years was elected for a second term. The public school affairs
General Bower resided at Reading until after 1800, when he removed to Womelsdorf, and he died at the latter of Reading received his earnest attention for nearly forty
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HISTORY OF BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
years, he having first become a director about 1846. He advocated the erection of more commodious and attrac- tive school buildings; and in 1865 he first suggested the practicability of heating the buildings by heaters in the cellars. He served the county commissioners as solicitor for a number of years. About 1860 he was instrumental in having them to allow half of the court fines to be appropriated toward establishing a Law Library for the Bench and Bar in the court-house. John S. Richards, Esq., an attorney at the Bar, suggested the idea. Sub- sequently legislation was obtained allowing this to be done, and a Law Library Association became incorporated.
In 1850 Judge Hagenman married Louisa A. Boyer, daughter of George Boyer, who was a descendant of one of the first families in the county and a prominent mem- ber of Trinity Lutheran congregation, having taken an active part in the erection of its church building in 1791. They had one son, George F. Hagenman, a practising attorney at the Reading Bar, who was killed in the Honda wreck, in California, May 11, 1907. Judge Hagen- man died March 6, 1904, and his wife in 190 -.
EDWARD B. HUBLEY was born at Reading in 1792, son of Joseph Hubley, a practising attorney of the Berks county Bar. He studied law with his father and was admitted to the Bar April 5, 1820. After practising at Reading for a while he moved to Orwigsburg, then the county-seat of Schuylkill county, and there continued his profession for a number of years. He represented that district in Congress for two terms, from 1835 to 1839. He held the appointment of canal commissioner of this State for several years, under Gov. David R. Porter, and acted as a commissioner of Indian affairs under President Polk. In all these positions he discharged his duties with ability and fidelity. About 1848 he returned to Reading and continued to reside here for eight years ; he then removed to Philadelphia, and died there shortly afterward, Feb. 23, 1856, aged sixty-four years. He mar- ried Catharine Spayd, eldest daughter of Judge Spayd.
GEN. DAVID McMURTRIE GREGG, one of the most distinguished and widely known residents of the city of Reading, occupies an enviable place in the esteem of the people of the county and State as one of the best and most efficient officers from Pennsylvania in the Civil War. Educated at West Point and trained by actual experience in the United States regular army for a number of years. he was fully prepared to perform his part in preserving the Union. And in thus acting the part of a patriotic son of the nation, he rose to a high. rank, creditable alike to his early training and his natural ability as a director and leader of men. General Gregg served during the entire war, and won promotion after promotion, be- ing finally breveted Major General U. S. Volunteers, Aug. 1, 1864.
General Gregg was born in Huntingdon, Pa .. April 10, 1833, son of Matthew Duncan and Ellen ( McMurtrie) Gregg. On both sides of the house he comes of an- cestors of whose records in civil and military life he may well be proud. The Gregg, Potter, McMurtrie and Elliott families, from whom General Gregg is directly descended, all settled in the colony of Pennsylvania at a very early date, and had much to do with the develop- ment and improvement of the Keystone State. The first Gregg ancestor of whom there is any sure knowledge was David Gregg, who was born at Ayrshire, Scotland, about 1630. He was a Captain in Cromwell's army in 1655, and was within the walls of Londonderry during the great siege of 1688-89 as a faithful supporter of the Prince of Orange, William III., against the exiled King of England, James II. Both David and his son John, who was born near Londonderry in 1665, were killed by a party of Roman Catholics in one of the conflicts that were constantly occurring between the Orangemen and the Romanists in the North of Ireland.
John Gregg's two sons, David and Andrew, and their sister Rachel, Mrs. Solomon Walker, and her husband, came to America in 1726. first settling in New Hamp-
shire, where David remained. Andrew and Mr. Walker, becoming dissatisfied, left there and landing at Newcastle, Del., finally located on a tract at Chestnut Level, Lancaster county, Pa. In 1748, he purchased and moved to a plantation near Carlisle, where he remained until his death, that event occurring in 1789. His first wife having died at Chestnut Level, leaving six children, he married Jean Scott (1725-1783). To the second union were born Andrew and Matthew.
Andrew Gregg, grandfather of General Gregg, was born June 10, 1755, near Carlisle, Pa., and died May 30, 1835, at Bellefonte, Pa. He received his eary training at Rev. John Steel's Latin school in Carlisle, and completed his education at Newark, Del. While a resident of that place he served a considerable period in the militia of the Revolution. In 1779, he accepted a tutorship in a col- lege, now the University of Pennsylvania. In 1787 he married Martha Potter, daughter of General James Pot- ter, and in 1789 removed to Penn's Valley, Center county. In 1791, he was elected to the Lower House of Con- .gress, and remained a member until 1807, when he was chosen United States Senator, his term of office ending in 1813. In 1820, he was appointed Secretary of the State of Pennsylvania by Gov. Joseph Hiester. and in 1823 was nominated for Governor on the Federal ticket in opposition to John Andrew Shulze, but was defeated in the ensuing election. There were born to Andrew Gregg and wife, Martha Potter, ten children, as follows: Mary married William McLanahan; Jean m. Roland Curtin (of their children, Andrew Curtin was the war Governor of Pennsylvania) ; Martha m. Dr. Constans Curtin, brother of Roland; Eliza in. David Mitchell; Juliana m. General James Irvin; Andrew m. Margaret Irvin, sister of Gen- eral Irvin; James P. m. Eliza Wilson: Matthew Duncan, Gen. Gregg's father, m. Ellen McMurtrie; Sarah m. Henry Kinney; and Margery m. Rev. Charles Tucker. The mother of this large and illustrious family, Martha (Potter) Gregg, was born April 10, 1769, and died Aug. 20, 1815.
John Potter, grandfather of Martha (Potter) Gregg, emigrated from County Tyrone, Ireland, in 1741, being accompanied by his sister Isabella, and her husband John Hamilton. They landed in Newcastle, Del., in September, 1741. In 1746, Mr. Potter settled in Antrim township, Franklin county, Pa., near the village of Greencastle. He was the first sheriff of Cumberland county. In September, 1756, he became a captain in Lieutenant Colonel Arm- strong's expedition against Kittanning. The date of his death is unknown. His wife died in 1778. Of their eight children, James was born on the bank of the Fovle, Tyrone, Ireland, in 1729, and came to America with his father in 1741. On Feb. 17, 1756, he was commissioned ensign in his father's company, Lient. Armstrong's Battalion, and served in the Kittanning expedition, in which campaign he was wounded. He was promoted to the position of Captain Feb. 17, 1759, and commanded three companies on the northern frontiers. Captain Potter removed to Sun- bury in 1768. In 1775 occurred the stirring events of Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, which aroused every patriotic son of Pennsylvania, and hurried them into a conflict which finally resulted in the recognition of American Independence. Captain Potter was among the first to offer his services for the struggle then so doubtful, and on Jan. 24, 1776, he was elected Colonel of the Upper Battalion, and in July of that year he became a member of the Constitutional convention. He was in command of a Battalion of Northumberland County militia in the battle of Trenton, Dec. 26, 1776, and at Princeton Jan. 3, 1777; and on April 5, 1777, was appointed third Brigadier Gen- eral of the militia of the State, commanded a brigade at Brandywine and Germantown, and served in the out- posts at Valley Forge. In 1780, when residing at Middle Creek, Snyder county, he became a member of the State council, and on Nov. 14, 1781, was elected Vice-President of Pennsylvania. He was unanimously elected Major Gen- eral May 23, 1782, and in 1784 was elected a member of the council of Censors.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
General James Potter first married Elizabeth Cathcart. pose of framing the first constitution of the Common- His second wife was Mrs. Mary Chambers, daughter of James and Mary Patterson. Mary Patterson, whose maiden name was Stewart, was a granddaughter of George Stew- art, who settled in Conestoga township, Chester county, in 1717. To General Potter and his wife Mary werc born three daughters and one son; of this family Martha became the wife of Andrew Gregg, and was the grand- mother of General David McM. Gregg. At his death General Potter possessed an immense landed estate in Penn's Valley, Center county.
Matthew Duncan Gregg was born April 5, 1804, in Penn's Valley, Center county, and fitted himself for the legal profession, being admitted to the Bar at Huntingdon in 1825. In 1828, he was united in marriage with Ellen McMurtrie, daughter of David and Martha (Elliott) McMurtrie, of Huntingdon. From that place he moved first to Pine Grove Mills, Center county, and in 1838 took up his residence in Bellefonte, where he engaged in the iron business. In 1845, in connection with his brother James P., and his brother-in-law David Mitchell, he purchased the Potomac Furnace, in Loudoun county, Va. Nine children were born to the union of Matthew D. Gregg and Ellen McMurtrie, as follows: Martha, born May 28, 1829, m. Richard R. Bryan; Andrew, born May 28, 1831; Gen. David; Mary, born Aug. 20, 1834, m. G. Dorsey Green; Ellen, born Dec. 24, 1836; George, born Feb. 10, 1838; Henry H., born March 19, 1840, m. Rose Mitchell; Thomas I., born Oct. 8, 1842, m. Bessie D. McKnight; and Olitipa, born Aug. 10, 1844, died Dec. 28, 1848. On July 25, 1845, Matthew Duncan Gregg died, and in August of the same year occurred the death of his brother, James P., both being buried in a churchyard between Leesburg and Point of Rocks, Va. Ellen Gregg, the mother, died at Bedford, Aug. 17, 1847, and is bur- ied at Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.
David McMurtrie, Ellen McM. Gregg's grandfather, was born at Ayr, Scotland, about 1709, and came to America in 1735, settling in Philadelphia, where he en- gaged in selling merchandise. On March 18, 1754, he mar- ried Margery Fisher at Cooper's Ferry, now a part of Philadelphia, and his children were as follows: William, born May 15, 1757; David, Jan. 14, 1764; Charles, July 21, 1766; and James, Dec. 16, 1768. Just before the Revolution David McMurtrie moved to Bedford, now Huntingdon county, and began the improvement of large tracts of land, owned by him on Shaver's creek and in the town of Huntingdon. He died in 1782.
David McMurtrie, the son of the above-mentioned pioneer, was born in Philadelphia and went to Hunting- don with his father, where he became a merchant, car- _rying on his business first in Huntingdon, then in Peters- burg, and again in Huntingdon. He was a member of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania in 1802. He married Martha Elliott, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Carpen- ter) Elliott, and they had the following children: James E .; Anna m. (first) Ed. Patton, (second) Thomas Jack- son; Mary m. James Gwin; Ellen, born Jan. 3, 1802, m. Matthew D. Gregg, and died Aug. 17, 1847; David m. Martha McConnell; Benjamin E. (first) m. Sarah H. Orbison, and (second) Mrs. Ellen Patton Dorsey; Mar- gery; Robert Allison m. (first) Sarah Briscoe, (second) Mrs. Maria Dennison; Martha m. James McCahen; and William m. Margaret Whittaker.
Robert Elliott, great-grandfather of General D. McM. Gregg's mother, through Martha Elliott McMurtrie, was born prior to 1730, but it is uncertain whether his birth- place was in America or Ireland. His home was in Peters township, Cumberland (formerly Lancaster) county. He was twice married, the issue of his first marriage be- ing two sons-Benjamin and George-and his two daugh- ters-Barbara and Jane. Benjamin Elliott was born in 1752, in Peters township, Cumberland (now Franklin) county, and became a resident of Huntingdon in 1775. When but twenty-four years of age, he was elected one of the delegates from Bedford county, Huntingdon being then in that county, to the convention, which met July 15, 1776, at Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, for the pur-
wealth of Pennsylvania. He was sheriff of Bedford county in 1784-85, and became the first sheriff of Hunting- don county in 1787. In that year he was also elected a delegate from Huntingdon county to the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the Federal constitution. He was elected a member of the Supreme Executive Coun- cil from Huntingdon county, Oct. 31, 1789, and served until Dec. 20, 1790, when the Council's term of office ex- pired by reason of the election of Governor Mifflin. He held several county offices in Huntingdon county, in- cluding that of Associate Judge. He died in Huntingdon, March 15, 1835, and was laid to rest in Fairview cemetery. He was thrice married. His first wife was Mary Carpen- ter, daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth (Herr) Carpenter, and a granddaughter of Heinrich Zimmerman, who was born in Switzerland, in 1675, and who made his first trip to America in 1698, returning to his native place in 1700. This gentleman married Salome Ruffner, Being a phy- sician, he practised his profession until 1706, when hav- ing engaged in a conspiracy against the government he was compelled to flee the country for safety. He according- ly came to America, where he settled in Germantown. In 1710, he began to acquire lands in Lancaster county, and in 1717, he moved there. He died about 1750, leaving a large estate to his heirs. Benjamin Elliott and his wife Mary had three children, namely: Martha, born in 1779, m. David McMurtrie, and died in 1841; Mary, born in 1781, m. Robert Allison; and James prepared for the legal profession, but died young and unmarried. Benjamin Elliott's second wife was Sarah Ashman, and his third Susan Haines.
General Gregg spent his earlier boyhood with his father's family in Bellefonte, Harrisburg and Hollidays- burg. In April, 1845, the family removed to Potomac Furnace, Loudoun county, Va. When, in the following Ju- ly, the father died, the widowed mother, with her nine chil- dren returned to Hollidaysburg; her death occurred at Bed- ford in August, 1847. David then became a member of the family of his uncle, David McMurtrie, living in Huntingdon, and for two years attended the school of that excellent teacher, Mr. John A. Hall. From this school he went to Milnwood Academy, in the lower end of Huntingdon county, and a year later joined his elder brother Andrew at the University at Lewisburg. While at the University he received an appointment as cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point. which he entered July 1, 1851. He graduated in June, 1855, standing eighth in a class of thirty-four members; among his classmates being Generals Averill, Webb, Rug- gles and Comstock, all prominent officers in the Union Army in the War of the Rebellion, and General Nichols, of the Confederate army. He became Second Lieutenant of Dragoons, July 1, 1855, and served in garrison at Jef- ferson Barracks, Mo., in 1855-56, being commissioned Second Lieutenant of First Dragoons, Sept. 4, 1855. In 1856, he was assigned to frontier duty in the West and on the Pacific coast, and remained there until the outbreak of the Civil War recalled him to the East. He was stationed at Fort Union, New Mexico, in 1856, took part in the march to California in the same year; was at Fort Tejon, Colo., in 1856-57; Fort Vancouver, Wash., in 1857-58; and at Fort Walla Walla, Wash., in 1858. He took part in the Spokane expedition of 1858, being en- gaged in a desperate combat with the Indians at To-hols- nimme, Wash., May 17, 1858; was present at the combat of Four Lakes, Wash., Sept. 1, 1858; and skirmish on Spo- kane river Sept. 8, 1858. He was on frontier duty at Fort Walla Walla, in 1859; at Fort Dallas, Oregon, 1859- 60; was scouting against the Snake Indians in 1860, being engaged in a skirmish near Hamoy Lake, Oregon, May 24, 1860. The winter of 1860-61 was spent in duty on the Warm Spring reservation.
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