USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 53
USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 53
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 53
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 53
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 2 > Part 53
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On the bank of the river, just below the honse, stood a warehouse, used in the days prior to the canal, when surplus produce was shipped down the river in arks. Grain was here stored. It was about twenty feet square, built. of logs, two stories high. This landing was a famous place for the first sixty-five years of settlement. The last ark built in this region was constructed by Samuel Thompson, on the river at Mexico, just above this warehouse. On Patterson's farm, just close by the Mexico Station, near the fool house, may yet In seen the marks of the foundation for a house, which
was abandoned because the man digging it was shot by an Indian posted upon the end of the Limestone Ridge. About half a mile above the station, the railroad cut the base of the limestone rocks, which has since become a dan- gerous point, on account of the great masses of rocks that slide down from the side of the ridge, and it is known as the "Ship Rocks." At Patterson's place there was a ferry, and an carly road led from it up the valley.
Alexander Dennison, by warrant of February 5, 1755, took up two hundred and six acres below Patterson on the river. It is now the property of Peter Kilmer's heirs. This and the Hepburn tracts were sold to James Potter, brother-in-law of William Patterson, who sold to John Bonner in 1773. Parts of it went, on his death, to Thomas Ghormley, William Cur- ren and others, in 1811. From these the lands passed at length to Philip Kilmer and Michael Brandt. The stream running into the river through these lands is called "Bonner's Ruu."
James Patterson took up, by warrant of Sep- tember 22, 1766, a tract of two hundred aeres below Dennison, at Tuscarora Station, now the lands of William Turbett, John Parker and Brandt heirs. This traet included the present railroad station and the Roaring Spring.
Stacy Hepburn took up two hundred and ninety-two acres, August 1, 1766, now owned by Philip and Henry Kepner. Aside of the above, and over next the mountain, William Patterson took up two hundred and ninety-two acres, November 4, 1771. William A. Patter- son, son of Captain William, had his father's and the Hepburn tracts, which he also owned, surveyed in 1803, and there were eight hundred and forty acres in a body.
William Cochran, or Corran, December 17, 1772, took up one hundred and ninety-four acres, called Williamsburg, now owned by Noah Hertzler and Mrs. Jacob Groninger.
Above these, Thomas Lowery warranted two hundred and fifteen acres, September 15, 1766, where " Lowery's son made an improvement," now owned by William and D. E. Robison, D. T. Kilmer and William Kohler. Lowery sold to James Patterson, December 3, 1766, who sold to William Curran, June 23, 1770,
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who sold to Philip Kilmer, Angust 21, 1786, grand father of D. T. Kilmer, two hundred and fourteen acres.
James Patterson warranted two hundred and eighty-five aeres, February 5, 1755, embracing
now the farms of James MeLaughlin (late D. { branch of this stream is called Hominy Run,
W. Flickenger), George Boyer and Philip Kil- mer, " on Hunter's Run." In his warrant it is said to be "adjoining his son's improvement." The Cochran traet, however, intervenes, but it proves that William had settled here already in 1755, and no doubt was here in 1751. Along with the above tract, James Patterson wished to include an adjoining tract of two hundred and fifty-four acres more, lying north of Lowery, but which seems at a later date to have been ordered to be put in his name on a separate warrant. Patterson sold, April 20, 1759, to William Armstrong, who sold, December 24, 1768, to Robert Brown, who sold, March 29, 1772, to Benjamin Kepner.
On application No. 1719, October 29, 1766, there was granted to Robert Campbell a tract of three hundred aeres, above those already named and near the mountain, which he sold to William Kenny September 2, 1774. This tract was owned by " Mountain " Thomas Wilson, from whom, by will, it passed to his sons,- Richard, John and " Mountain " Thomas, Jr.,- and is now owned by Leclere Calhoun, William Kerlin and Robert MeMeen.
Charles Hunter, November 1, 1766, took up two hundred and ninety-eight acres, running across the valley west of the above. He was here, however, long before, as "Hunter's Run" was a well- known land-mark as early as 1755. It took in the beautiful slope south of Church Hill, where Judge Koous now lives. In the assessment of 1769 he is marked " poor" and relieved from tax, though he had a tract as fine as any in the county. However, if he was poor in purse, he was a success as a hunter, for tra- dition says he and Griffith Thomas killed forty bears in a single winter season. This is the traet of which tradition says it was once offered to James Turbett for a hogshead of whiskey, and the offer refused. In 1781, when Turbett first appears on the tax-list, Hunter's property, called one hundred acres, is rated at one hundred and
fifty pounds. This story, like many others, is therefore more than improbable. After this first owner arose the old name Hunter's Gap, afterwards Jemnie's Gap, and also Hunter's Run, on which Hertzler's mills are built A
. and tradition states that it arose from a hominy- mill once erceted upon it. It is possible that. the name is much older. In William Byrd's "History of the Dividing Line between Virginia and North Carolina," he says : "We quartered on the banks of a creek that the inhabitants call Tewahominy or Tuskerooda ercek, because one of that nation had been killed thercabonts and his body thrown into the creck."
John McDowell, by warrants of July 1, 1762, March 29, 1769, and William Keny, February 21, 1769, took up small tracts, making three hundred and thirty-eight acres, which now form the farm of Daniel McConnell. This tract is the one on which Widow McDowell lived.
James Kenny, of Chester County, warranted, February 3, 1755, a choice tract of three Inin- dred aud eighteen acres, called " Walnut Bot- tom," and lay aside of Hunter and across the valley, formerly the Turbett lands, now Mrs. Stewart Turbett. James Kenny also warranted two hundred and seventy-three acres January 2, 1766, adjoining his other land and extending up the north side of the valley. The MeDow- ell lands were south of this tract. He sold the upper part to Nathan Thomas, one hundred and twenty-four acres, in 1791, who sold it to Valentine Weishaupt, April 10, 1800. The other half adjoining his main tract he sold to Alexander Kenny, who passed it to Charles Kenny, who lived upon it. Dr. G. M. Graham is now owner of this part. James Kenny never lived on his lands.
Kenny's main tract passed to Colonel Thomas Turbett, after whom the township was named. Here he started, in 1775, the first tannery in the present county, and which was rim by him and his children for three-quarters of a century. William Turbett also put up a tannery at Gira- ham's place, which ceased running in 1865. Stewart Turbett had a contract on the canal, and at its close brought a lot of Irishmen to dig
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him a mill-race at fifty cents per day. This was in 1828, but he is not taxed for it for some time later. It was rim by one Spayd after Tur- bett, and since then by John Barclay and Jacob Rothrock, whose heirs still own it. Thomas, son of John and Priscilla Turbett, was born January 20, 17 11 ; died June 20, 1820, aged seventy-eight years. His wife was Jane, daughter of Thomas Wilson, at the river. In 1776 he raised and marched a company to Car- lisle for the Continental service. At Trenton he won renown by a bold encounter with a Brit- ish officer, whom he shot. At a later day he was engaged in an expedition against hostile Indians. ITe is one of the most illustrious of our early settlers.
On the 15th of June, 1837, there was a vio- lent hail-storm. William Turbett, grandson of Colonel Thomas Turbett, was caught by it while ont in the woods on the ridge near Sterrett's, in Milford. He took refuge ander a large fallen tree that lay a little above the ground. During the storm another tree fell across this one and crushed him to death. The tree, after doing its work of death, sprang back, and when found, it was not tonching his body.,
William Kenny took up also seventy-five acres February 21, 1769, formerly Jesse Saylor, now Robert Wharton. Another draft says, " Gained by law part of his land surveyed on application for three hundred acres."
At the foot of the Tuscarora Mountain John McAfee built a house twenty-eight feet square, with a chimney at each end, and planted an orchard. Fourteen of the trees still remain and peach-trees grow ont of the debris of the chim- ney. After his death Jennie, his widow, long lived there, and from her the gap near by got its present name. Down through this gap came the Fort Granville path, still distinctly marked. It was the only way over the mountain up to 1811.
Jennie's house was a celebrated place in the old days, and many stories are related of her and that locality. The owl and the bat now sport in undisturbed pleasure where Jennie's mau- sion once stood. It is a common notion in the vicinity that John Me Afee made his settlement at a very early period. The facts are he first
appeared in 1791, and got a warrant for two hundred acres, September 15, 1800.
At the foot of the mountain is a little hamlet called MeAfectown, or Mechanicsburg. Here Daniel MeAfec erected a small fulling-mill in 1819, and James had a carding-machine in 1829. About 1810 Peter Hench turned it into a foundry and built threshing machines for some years. In 1848 Noah Hertzler bought it and continued the foundry. In 1857 the build- ing was removed and a saw-mill built in its place. The waters coming from the gap flow into, or rather form, Hunter's Run.
Robert Moore warranted one hundred and one aeres, September 18, 1766, across Tuscarora Creek from Port Royal borough, now held by . David Coyle. Back of this, in the ridges, George Moore held one hundred and thirty- nine acres, in the right of Robert Say, dated November 28, 1767. Thomas Hardy also warranted on the ridges, near Old Port town, eighty-four aeres, Jannary 26, 1768. He soon left and purchased the MeGuire place, in Lick- ing Creek.
John Anderson warranted one hundred and sixty-seven acres, September 15, 1766, on Lime- stone Ridge, now owned by Samuel Kepner and Thomas Stewart. It adjoined the surveys of Esther Cox and John and David Little. This is where Robert Woods after 1801 had his distillery. On a run passing through this land, Peter Rice, who died a few years ago in Lack township, says there was once a fort, called " Fort Mnek," which was taken by In- dians and twelve persons killed or carried away. No confirmatory evidence of this has. been found, except the fact that the stream is still well known to the older people as Fort Muck Run, though it is now often called Woods' Rim. Eastward of the above tract William Robison took up seventy-five acres, March 21, 1793, adjoining Jolm Little, Jolm Crozier and Abraham Wells.
As early as Jannary 22, 1767, there was "n location granted to David Littel," surveyed April 25, 1791, by James Harris, who then made note that " Widow Armstrong has abont two acres of meadow cleared and claims part of this tract." May 6, 1802, William Harris re-
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surveyed this on an order of the Board of in 1797, whose sons were Jacob, David, Sam- Property, as Henry Taylor claimed thirty-three acres right in the heart of David Little's seventy aeres, along the creek at the east end of the Groninger bridge, and included the house and a meadow below. Taylor held the Arm- strong claim, but the Little survey was older and rested on a' warrant. James Harris did not return the survey. William Harris says : " I do not know the reason why the location 2528, in the name of David Littel, has re- mained so long without being acted upon."
John Little (later spelled Lytle) warranted three hundred and thirty acres, June 16, 1794, east of David and south of Robert, and extend- ing castward as far as the Rankin-Hunter- Campbell tract. Surveyor, April 11, 1795, says this traet "appears to have been called Patterson's Land." It bounded Robert on the north and cast. In this region the Rankin sur- vey located Samuel Green, a squatter in 1763, no doubt. These lands are now owned by James P. Johnson, Benjamin Groninger, John Rigby, George Harner and William Groninger.
On June 16, 1794, Robert Little got a war- rant for three hundred and thirty acres, now mostly owned by Uriah Guss' heirs, which passed May 7, 1802, to Sebastian Hustler, and from. his heirs, May 28, 1814, to Abraham Whistler, then to Henry Zook, June 26, 1819. It is evident that the Littles long held a large tract of land which was unwarranted. Robert Little was a justice of the peace and one of the commissioners on the organization of Mifflin County. He is on the tax-lists from 1767 to 1805. He had two acres cleared in 1767, and in 1768 had stock for farming.
John Kepner lived about Millerstown, or below it. He had three sons, who moved into the present Turbett township. 1. Benjamin, who moved across the river from Mexico in 1772, whose sons were Jacob (merchant), Ben- jamin, William, John, Philip, Henry and David. 2. Jacob, who moved on the MeCrum place, now owned by S. D. Kepner, in 1799, whose sons were John and Jacob by a first wife, and Benjamin, Henry and Sammel D. by a second wife. 8. Samuel, who moved on the Crozier place, next west of his brother Jacob
nel and John W. The daughters are not here given. There was also another stock of Kep- ners of the same family connection, but not related nearer than cousins to the three brothers aboved named, who moved on farms a little cast of Johnstown. They were John, in 1791 ; and Major Benjamin, in 1790, whose sons were Solomon (the merchant), Benjamin, Absalom, David and Josiah. The major was also known as Judge Benjamin. The sons of - Jacob, son of Jacob, were John, Jacob, Henry, Benjamin, Samuel, and daughters Catharine (Sulouff'), Mary (Boyer), Christina (Hertzler- Heikes), Sarah (Rice), Elizabeth (AAughey).
John Hench was of a Huguenot family that had to leave France for the sake of his religion. He came to America from Metz, and lived near Yellow Springs, in Chester County, prior to the Revolution. Two of his sons, Peter and Henry, died in the famous prison-ship .at New York. His son John married Peggy Rice, and lived in Perry County. Elizabeth was the wife of John Rice. Jacob married Susan Rice. Their children were Polly Ann (Breck- bill), John (married Margaret Groninger), Nancy (wife of Jacob Groninger), Abigail (Calhou), Zachariah (married Ellen Ickes), Peter (mar- ried Mary Stewart, then Sidney Strouse). The children of the above have long occupied a prominent position in the community. Judge Cyrus M. Hench is a son of John.
John Hench, first-named, had a daughter Christina married to a Sheridan. His will was probated December 9, 1807, and in it he left six hundred pounds to this daughter in case she should ever be heard from. It appears that she was lost or killed by Indians while descend- ing the Ohio River in going to Kentucky, as we infer from the " Border Life." At all events, she was never heard from, and the money lay unused until 1876, when it was divided among the heirs, of whom there were one hundred and ten, and it made about five dollars apiece.
The Rice (German, Reis) family starts out with a remarkable record as to numbers and longevity. "Zachariah lived near Chester Springs; his wife was Abigail, sister of Major
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JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
Peter Hartman. He had a mill, and from his accounts it seems that Washington for some time put up at his house. The country got too small for his growing fiumnily. In 1791 he moved to Perry County and in ESOS to Tur- bett township, where he died August 19, 1811, aged eighty years. Before moving up, his wife died and was buried at Pikeland Church. They had twenty-one children. It is often stated that her tomb-stone has on it :
" Some have children, some have none ; Here lies the mother of twenty-one."
If the story is not true, the lines might have been truthfully placed there. Seventeen of these grew up and were married. Three sisters re- mained in Chester County ; four went to Ohio ; Peter, John, George, Henry, Jacob, Conrad, Zachariah Jr., Benjamin and Mrs. John and Mrs. Jacob Hench and Mrs. John Weimer, stopped in Perry, where numerous descendants remain, and where a notice of them will be found. Peter, John, Jacob, Henry and George, Mes. Weimer and Mrs. Jacob Hench, (afterwards Bowers) removed to the vicinity of old Port Royal about 1797 to 1802: Henry returned to Perry. John's children were Jndy, Tinnie, Jacob, William, John, Samuel, Jesse and Han- nah. He died January 2, 1837, aged eighty years. In noticing the death of John Rice, the Juniata Journal mentions the large family, and says John was the eldest, and that " all were present at the interment of their generous mother." Jacob's children were Betsey, Jacob, Polly and Henry. Peter's children were Zach- arial, Peter, lohu, Sally, Molly, Samuel, Peggy, Abigail, Betsey. As a specimen we give some of these la-t-named children's ages : Peter, ninety-three ; John, ninety-two ; Molly, eighty- four; Peggy, eighty-five; and the others at
similar ages. They are certainly the most remarkably long-lived people in the county. They have, morever, become excellent citizens.
Captain William Martin, of Armand's First Partisan Legion in the Revolution, died in Tur- bett township about 1822.
Benjamin Kepner, whose name appears as a taxable as early as 1772, died May 1, 1851, aged ninety-six years.
The land on the Tuscarora Creek opposite the month of Licking Creek was taken up by a survey, based on one warrant to Richard Rankin, February 4, 1755, and another to John Hunter, April 1, 1755, and contained four Indred and thirty-two aeres, surveyed June 6, 1763, by John Armstrong. It comprised all the land between the creek and the top of the ridge, including the Church Hill Cemetery, and from the upper line of Lemuel Kepner down to the " Barren Hill," east of Old Port ham- let. On February 6, 1759, the warranters cold their. claims to Robert Campbell. This early and enterprising adventurer had his house near the present farm-house of David Hertzler, and this may be the " house of Robert Campbell " found by the Indians July 10, 1763, and at which they killed a number of persons. Ou July 29,1790, Robert sold to John Campbell, and Inne 23, 1792, John sold two hundred and eighteen acres of the lower part to Lawrence King. King sold, April 13, 1801, to Zachariah Rice, who had it patented Jume 14, 1802, being one hundred and ninety-nine acres and one hun- dred and fifty-three perches, and called "Spring Hill." This part passed, Jannary 1, 1802, to his son, Jacob Rice, who sold off one acre aud a half to the Lutheran Church, January 1, 1803 ; and in 1831 sold the tract to Daniel Hertzler. It is now owned : one hundred and fourteen aeres by David Hertzler, forty aeres by Noah Hertzler, twenty-one acres by John Hertzler, thirty acres by D. Kepner, six acres by J. J. Weimer. King built a saw-mill in 1792, at the west side of the dam above the road. Jacob Rice moved it down where the water-house now is, and added a pair of chop- ping-stones for grinding corn and plaster as early as 1805, and created a carding-machine as early as 1820. Hertzler removed the saw-mill down nearly opposite David Hertzler's barn, tore down the old mills and erected in 1839 a woolen-fac- tory, thirty by fifty feet, three stories high. John Hertzler then removed the saw-mill to the east side of the dam in 1851, and in 1857 re- built the mill, turning it into a first-class mer- chant grist-mill.
Robert Campbell sold, June 21, 1790, for five pounds yearly during life and other canses, to
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James McCrum, one hundred acres of the large tract west of that sold hisson. MeCrum sold to George Crane, May 13, 1797, and Crane to Jacob Kepner, of Greenwood township, November 4, 1799, from whom it passed to his son, Samuel D., and has been now eighty-six years in the Kepner name. The upper or western part of Campbell's tract was sold to John Crozier, about 1784, from whom it passed to Samnel Kepner, about 1795, and is owned by his descendants to this day.
In the sale of King to Rice he did not in- clude a strip of abont twenty acres, embracing Old Port town and extending down the creek a quarter of a mile to D. E. Robison's. On the upper end of this strip, and next the creek, Mr. King laid out a town, some time between 1792 and 1799, which he called "St. Tamany's Town." Main and back-streets ran east and west, and there were five cross-streets. April 15, 1800, King sold Thomas Henderson thirty-nine of these lots, of which No. 57 is the highest number given, and a small strip bounded south by the " lots in St. Tamany Town, running to a point at the east," Tuscarora Creek at the north, and " the land that the aforesaid Thomas Henderson now lives on," the whole containing ten aeres. It appears by this deed that King still retained some of this tract, and that other parts had been sold previously to Thomas Wilson. . King had the whole traet patented June 14, 1802, and it is called Emsworth. It had nineteen acres, eighty-six perches and allowances.
The road from the Church Hill region passed in front of David Hertzler's house and crossed the Tuscarora Creek at the junction, coming out at the Wilson mill, on the bank of Licking Creek. The road from the Blue Spring region came down by the dam and followed the foot- hill, probably the like of the tracts to D. E. Robison's house, where it crossed the ercek. In November, 1801, a petition for a road from George Wilson's mill to Saint Tammany was pre- sented to the court. The report of the viewers was confirmed at September term, 1802. It was said that the secret of this move was to get the travel away from Jacob Rice, who kept a public- house, and bring it past Henderson, who kept a house at the south end of the present bridge.
It is along this road that the present Old Port town is built.
To whom King disposed of the other parts of Emsworth does not appear. Henderson kept store, tavern and had a distillery, and March 1, 1825, was drowned in the river, having left Saint Tammany a few years previous. In 1826 the sheriff sold a tract of one hundred acres, which clearly included Emsworth, and a part of a traet above it, over the mill, containing forty- seven acres, warranted to Thomas Hardy on application No. 4719, January 26, 1768, to W. M. Hall, who sold it to Alex. Magonigle and James Thompson, August 17, 1830, when passing to the widow of the latter. It is now owned by her son, Jerome G. Thompson. Magonigle took the place of Henderson at the end of the bridge and kept store. It was while Magonigle was Chief Sachem of Saint Tammany that the post-office was established, and it is probable that he was instrumental in having it named "Port Royal." This was probably 1833, and at this period Tammany town, with its Port Royal post-office, was still a much more in- portant point than Perrysville. The advent of the railroad carried business to its station, and in 1847 the " Port Royal " post-office was moved to the borough, and finally the borough in 1874 appropriated the name itself, since which the old Tammany town is generally spo- ken of as " Old Port Town." When the post- office was started out in Old Port town, they did not wish to have it called after a little town across the creek ; but at the time of the removal of the office into the borough, they could not change the name to Perrysville, because it was already in use in this State. Here, in the early days, before the canal was made, there was a warehouse on the bank of the creek, about two Indred yards below the bridge. Arks were built up the creek, partly loaded, floated down to this warehouse, where they waited a favora- ble rise in the river. It is possible that this quiet retreat in the bend of the creek, so near the river, suggested the idea of a port, and the " Royal " would come in as a tribute to King Tammany, or Lawrence King. Now all is changed ; the store-house, the warehouse, the Hill-house are all gone ; the old tavern-house
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alone remains to remind one of the days when this was the centre of everything and the "Great Crossing of Tuscarora." The town was finished long ago, but is by no means dead. Here Noah Hertzler is a store-keeper and has been for forty-seven years now past. No other merchant has remained so long in one place in this county.
Lermens Chench os Cuecen Hu ...- Jacob Rice, on January 1, 1803, sold one and a half aeres of the land patented by his father, Zachariah, under the name Spring Hill, to " Val- entine Weishaupt and Peter Rice, Trustees named and appointed by the German Lutheran Congregation of Tuscarora Valley," for sixteen dollars. " Witness, Benjamin Kepner and Chris- tian Brand. Endorsed, deed poll in trust for the German Lutheran congregation of Tuscarora Valley," on " the road from George Wilson's mill to Hunter's Gap." For this lot William Harris made a survey as early as May 12, 1802, when it was yet the land of Lawrence King. The carly history of this church is in doubt, but there must have been a building already erceted at the time of the survey, for Harris' draft has a neat picture of the church, having two win- dows on the side next the road, and he says it is " for a Burying-Ground and a place of Wor- ship for the use of the German Society." It appears, therefore, that there was no partnership in this building. In later years the Presbyterians helped to repair the church and were allowed to ocenpy it on the unused alternate Sunday. Both congregations rebuilt in town, and the old church was sold to N. Hertzler by the Lutherans, and torn down by him in 1856. Some of the tim- ber went into the mill and some into a house in the borough. The yard adjoining the old church contains a large number of graves, the oldest dated 1803. Adjoining this, grounds have been seenred and a cemetery regularly laid- ont, where most of the burials have taken place for some year -.
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