USA > Virginia > Powhatan County > Powhatan County > Documents, chiefly unpublished, relating to the Huguenot emigration to Virginia and to the settlement at Manakin-Town, with an appendix of genealogies, presenting data of the Fontaine, Maury, Dupuy, Trabue, Marye, Chastain, Cocke, and other families > Part 1
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Gc 975.5 V823c v.5 1249991
M. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02368 3060
DOCUMENTS, CHIEFLY UNPUBLISHED, RELATING TO THE
Huguenot Emigration
TO VIRGINIA
AND TO THE
SETTLEMENT AT MANAKIN-TOWN,
WITH AN APPENDIX OF GENEALOGIES,
PRESENTING DATA OF THE
FONTAINE, MAURY, DUPUY, TRABUE, MARYE, CHASTAIN, COCKE, AND OTHER FAMILIES, EDITED AND COMPILED FOR THE
Virginia Historical Society BY R. A. BROCK, Corresponding Secretary and Librarian of the Society.
TORICA
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ORGANIZED
29T. Dec 183
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ART
CONDERE ET TRADERE
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BALTIMORE Genealogical Publishing Co. 1962
Originally Published Richmond 1886
Southern-10.00
1249991
INTRODUCTION.
The history of the religious persecution of the Huguenots in France, from the massacre of St. Bartholomew to the infamous outrages which preceded and followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, is so familiar, through frequent graphic narra- tive, that any attempt at repetition here would be quite unneces- sary, were the means to be employed adequate. But recently this topic has been ably considered, and a comprehensive narra- tive of the establishment of the fugitive Protestants in the New World presented as well.ª An unpretentious assembling of scattered data relating to the Huguenot settlement in Virginia, and of families of the lineage, happily to serve as material in abler hands in the future, may only be essayed by the present editor.
Desultory Walloon emigration to Virginia early in the seven- teenth century is indicated by names of record in the State Land Registry; and the Walloons of Leyden, planning to fol- low the example of their Puritan neighbors, the Pilgrim Fathers of New England, presented, July 21, 1621, to Sir Dudley Carle- ton, the British Ambassador at the Hague, a petition signed by fifty-six heads of families, Walloon and French, all of the Reformed Religion, who desired to come to Virginia. The answer of the Council of the Virginia Company, though not
a The excellent works of two learned brothers: History of the Rise of the Huguenots in France, by Professor Henry M. Baird, 2 vols., 8vo., (to be followed by two uniform volumes on The Huguenots and Henry IV, and it is hoped by others, covering the period of struggle and suf- fering down to the Edict of Toleration), and History of the Huguenot Emigration to America, by Charles W. Baird, D. D., 2 vols., 8vo.
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INTRODUCTION.
altogether adverse, appears to have been not sufficiently encour- aging, as the correspondence went no further. 4 Eight years later, in June, 1629, a similar application was made to the Eng- lish Government, by Antoine de Ridouet, Baron de Seance, in behalf of a body of French Protestants, asking for encouragement to settle in Virginia. His proposal was favorably entertained. The emigrants destined for Carolina, landed in Virginia, but the colony maintained a languid existence for a few years only.b An act styled "Concerning Denizations," giving encouragement to foreign settlers, was passed by the Colonial Assembly in March, 1657 [1658]. It provides that " all aliens and strangers who have inhabited the country the space of ffower yeeres, and have a firme resolution to make this country their place of resi- dence, shall be free denisons of this collony." etc.".
In March, 1659 [1660], and October, 1660, acts of naturaliza- tion in favor of John Johnson, millwright, being a Dutchman ; and of Nicholas Boate, severally, were passed.ª An act passed September, 1671, allowed "any stranger * * upon petition to the grand Assembly, and taking the oaths of . allegiance and supremacy to his Majesty" to be naturalized, and " be capable of office, traffique, and trading, of taking up, purchasing, con- veying, devising and inheriting of lands," etc.e Under this act, patents of naturalization were granted by the Assembly, in September, 1673, to Joshua Mulder, Henry Weedick, Christopher Regault, Henry ffayson Vandoverage, John Mattoone, Dominick Theriate, Jeremy Packquitt, Nicholas Cock, Henry Wagga- more, and Thomas Harmenson, aliens; in October, 1673, to John Peterson, Rowland Anderson, Michaell Valandigam, Minor Doodes, Doodes Minor,' and Herman Kelderman, aliens; in March, 1675 [1676], to Christian Peterson ; in February, 1676 [1677], to Garratt Johnson, and in April, 1679, to Abraham
b Baird, C. W., I, pp. 163-5.
c Hening's Statutes at Large, I, p. 486.
d Ibid., I, p. 545; II, p. 16. e Ibid., II, 289-90.
f Said to have been born in Holland in 1644; m. in Virginia Garrett, and had issue, four sons : William, Minor, Peter and Garrett : progenitors of the Minors of Virginia, and the Southern and Western States.
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INTRODUCTION.
Vincler, John Michaell, Jacob Johnson, John Pimmitt and John Keeton.“
Refuge in Great Britain was sought by the Huguenots early in the sixteenth century, and in the latter decades of that cycle, emigration thither steadily increasing, had contributed immensely to the constituent population and useful citizenry of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, comprising all ranks, from the peasant to the noble-artisans, cloth-makers, lace-makers, silk- weavers, glass-makers, printers and manufacturers. Their skill, industry, and worth speedily secured recognition and conse- quent prosperity, and there is scarce a branch of literature, science and art in which they have not distinguished themselves. Their descendants may still, at this day, be numerously, and in honorable station, identified by name, though the family desig- nations of by far the greater number have long since been com- pletely Anglicized and ceased to be thus traceable. Between the years 1599 and 1753, there were established in the city of London alone no less than twenty-eight French churches.h
Following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which was signed on the 18th and published on the 22d of October, 1685, the exodus thither was immense. "It was reserved," pungently remarked President John Jay, in his Introductory Address before the Huguenot Society of America at New York, October 22, 1885 (having previously referred to the Massacre of St. Bar- tholomew in 1572), "for that most Christian and grand monarch. Louis XIV, more than a century later, to renew the persecution of the Huguenots by a crime of similar magnitude; and with folly without a parallel, to lose for France, by means similarly atrocious, hundreds of thousands of those same heretics, who carried industry, intelligence and prosperity, light, truth and happiness to other' lands, including our own. Of the number lost to France, Sismondi computes the total number of emi- grants at from 300,000 to 400,000; and thinks that an equal number perished in prison, on the scaffold, at the galleys, or in their attempts to escape.
"So far as a moral estimate of the act is concerned, it has been well remarked that the revocation stands at so indefinite a height
g Hening's Statutes at Large, pp. 302, 308, 339, 400, 447.
h Smiles' Huguenots, pp. 368-9.
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INTRODUCTION.
among the follies of statesmen that no exaggeration of facts can aggravate it."' The significant fact in requital, has been pub- lished that eighty-nine descendants of the Huguenots, who were banished from France by the Revocation, returned in 1870 as officers of the invading German army.
Of the army of William of Orange, numbering eleven thou- sand, which sailed from Holland, and by whose aid he obtained the Crown of England, three regiments, each containing seven hundred and fifty effective men, were Huguenots. To these were added a squadron of horse. There were also about seven hundred officers distributed among the other battalions of the army. In gratitude to these zealous and effective supporters, and in sympathy with the great multitude of their suffering brethren. driven violently from their homes and native country simply for their religion, the king invited them to make their home in his new dominions.
Many of such refugees soon turned their eyes to America and sought a home in Virginia. Many families took their resi- dence along the Potomac, Rappahannock and James rivers.'
The expenses of transportation to America was usually borne by the Relief Committee in London. In fact, no small part of the Royal bounty-the English people's bounty-went to pay for the passage of the refugees across the ocean.
In the year 1700, as enumerated in the documents herewith presented, more than five hundred emigrants, at the head of whom was the Marquis de la Muce, were landed in Virginia by four successive debarkations.k Three ministers of the Gospel, and two physicians were among the number. The ministers are Claude Phillipe de Richebourg, Benjamin de Joux,' and Louis Latané. The physicians were Castaing [Chastain ?] and La Sosee.
i Commemoration of the Bi-Centenary of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, October 22, 1885, at New York, p. 9.
j Foote's Huguenots, p. 521.
k The number is stated by other authorities to have been more than 700. Beverley's History of Virginia, edition of 1722, p. 244. Baird, C. W., II, p. 177.
¿ He died prior to April 1, 1703 [1704], as an inventory of his effects is of record of that date in Henrico County Court.
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INTRODUCTION.
Preparations for this important movement had long been on foot, and more than once its destination had been changed. Two years before the date of the embarkation, negotiations were opened by the leaders of the body with Dr. Daniel Coxe, " pro- prietary of Carolana and Florida," for the purchase of half a mil- lion acres of land in the latter territory. The tract in question was situated near Appalachee Bay, and the purchasers were to have the privilege of an additional half million of acres at the nominal rent of "a ripe Ear of Indian Corne in the season" for the first seven years. At another time Carolina was the objective point of the expedition. A third site suggested for the settlement was in Norfolk county, Virginia, on the Nanse- mond river, in the neighborhood of the Dismal Swamp." They appear to have settled at different points; a portion about James- town, some in Norfolk county, others in Surry, and two hun- dred or more at a spot some twenty miles above Richmond, on the south side of James river (now in Powhatan county), where ten thousand acres of land, which had been occupied by the extinct Manakin" tribe of Indians, were given them. They were also exempted from the payment of all taxes for seven years, and were allowed to support their minister in their own way. Accordingly, in dividing the grant into farms, all running down to the river in narrow slips, a portion of the most valuable was set apart for the minister, and was thus possessed and used whilst one resided in the parish. It was afterwards rented out, and the proceeds paid for such occasional services as were ren- dered by neighboring ministers. Bishop Meade" states, 1857, that services were then regularly held in the old church at Mana- kin-Town settlement.
According to Beverley, the emigrants, in 1702, “began an Essay of Wine, which they made of the wild grapes gathered in the woods ; the effect of which was a strong-bodied Claret, of good flavour." " The interesting fact is exhibited in the docu-
m Baird, C. W., II, pages 176-8.
" Monacan, in the Indian dialect-a warlike tribe, who resided from the Falls of James river to "Monocan-Town," and whom Powhatan in vain attempted to subdue.
o Old Churches and Families, I, page 466.
₱ History of Virginia, edition of 1722, page 245.
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INTRODUCTION.
ments presented herewith (page 43), that the discovery of bitu- minous coal in Virginia was near the Manakin-Town settlement early in 1701. This deposit, subsequently known as the Dover Mines, it is alleged, was the first mined in Virginia. It is be- lieved that bituminous coal was not to any extent used as a fuel in the State until after the Revolution, and then for ,a consider- able period only for the heating of residences.º The Dover Mines were last operated in 1870 under the management of General Charles P. Stone, formerly of the United States Army, and late of the staff of the Khedive of Egypt.
Among the names which have been preserved of the ministers who served the parish of King William regularly, or occasion- ally, were the following : Benjamin de Joux, until his death in 1704; Claude Phillipe de Richbourg, removed to Carolina in 1707 ; Jean Cairon, died in 1716; Peter Fontaine, 1720, 1721 ; Francis Fontaine, 1722-24; William Finney, 1722, and pro- bably later ; William Murdaugh, of St. James'-Northam, Gooch- land, and Zachariah Brooke, of Hanover county, in 1727 ; Mr. . Nearne, or Neirn, 1727, 1728 ; David Mossom, of St. Peter's parish, New Kent county, 1727; Mr. Swift and Daniel Taylor, of Blissland parish, New Kent county, in 1728 and 1729; James Marye, 1731-1735; Anthony Gavain, 1730. From 1750 10 1780, the Rev. William Douglass,' of Goochland; and other neighboring ministers occasionally served it. Subsequently the Rev. Mr. Hopkins, of Goochland, was the minister.
It is exhibited that there were numerous instances of indi- vidual settlement of French Huguenots in Virginia prior and subsequent to the influx of 1700. The names of Barraud, Ber- trand, Boisseau', Bowdoin," Cazenove, Contesse, Cottrell,' For-
q It has been asserted that there were shipments to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for manufacturing purposes, prior to the Revolution.
r An early tutor of Thomas Jefferson.
s "John and Paul Bertrand, brothers, fled from France during the persecutions of Louis XIV ; came over to England, and from thence to America. They were both clerks in the Church of England. John Bertrand, the eldest, settled in Rappahannock county, Virginia, havin :: married in London, 29th September, 1686, Charlotte Jolié, the daughter of a French nobleman, with whom he had escaped from France. John Bertrand left issue two children. William, the elder, who died in 1760. left issue an only daughter, Mary Anne, the wife of Leroy Griffin, of
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INTRODUCTION.
loines, Flournoy, " Fuqua, Ghiselin, Jacquelin, Jouet, " Lacy, Mauzy, Michie, Micou, Moncure, Seay, ' Trezevant" and others, have been most estimably represented.
Rappahannock county. They were the parents of Thomas Bertrand, Dr. Corbin, Cyrus and William Griffin. [There was a daughter, also, Elizabeth, who married Colonel Richard Adams, the elder, of Rich- mond, Virginia.]
" Paul Bertrand settled in Calvert county, Maryland, on a farm pur- chased by him called 'Cox Hayes,' west of Patuxent river. He died soon after his marriage, leaving a widow and one son-Paul. They went to London, where the son married Mary, daughter of one Dear- ling, a very eminent Toyman of London; settled at Bath, and died without issue about 1755. This widow was alive in 1766."
The tradition in the Griffin family is, that it is of Welsh extraction. There are grants of 1,155 and 1,046 acres of land to Samuel Griffin, in Rappahannock county, in 1660, and of 1,000 acres to William Griffin, in Northampton county, in 1662, of record in the Virginia Land Regis- try.
As the names Samuel and William have been transmitted by the descendants of Leroy Griffin for generations, it may be presumed that one of the brothers, grantees of land as named, was his ancestor.
His son, Cyrus, born 1749, was educated in England. Returning to Virginia, he became a member of the Legislature, delegate to the Con- tinental Congress-1778, 1781, and in 1787, 1788-and was its President in 1788 ; President of the Supreme Court of Admiralty ; a Commissioner, in 1789, to the Creek Nation of Indians; Judge of the United States District Court for Virginia from 1789 till his death at Yorktown, Vir- ginia, 14th December, 1840. He married Lady Christine Stuart, daugh- ter of John, sixth Earl of Traquar, Baron Stuart of Traquar, Baron Lin- ton and Cubarston in the peerage of Scotland. Mary, the daughter of Judge Cyrus and Lady Christine (Stuart) Griffin, married her cousin, Dr. Samuel Stuart Griffin. Their son, Dr. James Lewis Corbin Griffin, who died 22d October, 1878, in his 64th year, at "Lansdowne," Gloucester county, claimed to be the rightful representative of the Barony of Tra- quar, etc.
t The progenitor of the family, Rev. James Boisseau, served as a minister in the Colony prior to 1697. Perry's Church Papers of Vir- ginia, 34.
u Pierre Bowdoin first settled in Ireland; then, with his wife and four children, emigrated to Casco, Maine. He was godfather to Peter Fanueil, the donor of Fanueil Hall, Boston. A daughter married a Temple, and was thus an ancestress of Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. A son, James Bowdoin, was the friend and compatriot of Washington and Franklin. Another son, John Bowdoin, removed to the Eastern shore
xii
INTRODUCTION.
The family, De Cazenove (or De Castionovo, which is the original orthography of the name), was an old and respectable one in the south of France. The name and history began with a knight, who, in the year 993, added the name to his baptismal appellation, adopted a " new castle" as his coat-of-arms and styled himself Sieur Cazenove. Several knights of the name engaged in the crusades. During the reign of Henry IV, Guil- liame De Cazenove was entitled Admiral. But during the reli-
of Virginia about 1700. His granddaughter was the wife of Professor freorge Tucker, of the University of Virginia. Pierre Bowdoin was a Burgess from Northumberland county in 1736, and John Bowdoin, in 1774 and 1775; died 1775. Preeson Bowdoin was a member of the Phi-Beta-Kappa Society of William and Mary College in 1776. John Bowdoin was a member of the House of Delegates from Northumber- land county in 1778.
: Charles Cottrell patented 123 acres of land in Goochland county, August 28, 174S. Susanna Cottrell and Howard Cash, Executors of Thomas Cottrell, deceased, patented 700 acres in Amherst county, Au- gust 30th, 1763. Virginia Land Registry.
@ There are various grants of land of record in the Virginia Land Registry to Jacob, John James, and Francis Flournoy. Thomas Stan- hope Flournoy was a member of Congress from Virginia 1847-1840 ; Wng candidate for Governor in 1860, and member of the Virginia Convention, 1860-'1. Hon. Henry W. Flournoy is the present Secre- tary of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
:1- Matthew Jouett patented large tracts of iand in Hanover in 1732. Thomas Jouett patented lands in Albemarle in 1752 Captain Jack Jouet, by hard riding in May, 1781, apprised the fugitive Legislature, then sitting at Charlottesville. Virgima of the approach of the British under Tarleton. and thus prevented thex capture. The service was acknowledged by a resolution of thanks, passed june 12, 1781, and the presentation of an elegant sword and a pair of pistols. Captain Matthew Touett, of the State Line in the Revolution, fell in the service, and. his representative received 4,000 acres of bounty land. A son of Captain Jack Jouett, the late Matthew Jouett, of Louisville, Kentucky, is said to have rivalled in ability Gilbert Stuart as a portrait painter. It is claimed that the name was originally De Jouet.
y Originally Saye.
z James Trezevant was member of Congress from Virginia, 1825-1831, and a member of the Virginia Convention of 1829-30. The Trezevants were from the northern part of the province of Maine. Baird, II, pages 97, 98.
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gious troubles, from the time of the Reformation to the Revoca- cation of the Edict of Nantes, the Cazenoves became impoverished. Some of them fled to Switzerland. Paul Cazenove married Marie Plantamore, of Noyons, and his three sons were admitted citizens of Geneva. Jean, the eldest son of Pierre Cazenove, married Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Bressonnet, Doctor of Theology and president of the Consistory. Paul Cazenove, the son of Jean, was so unfortunate as to live in the days of the French Revolution, and he and his two sons, Jean Antoine and Antoine Charles, were imprisoned with several of the Genevese aristocracy, and his wife was kept under guard at Mont Bril- hant. a beautiful country seat on the banks of lake Geneva. They were tried before the Revolutionary tribunal and were condemned to death. But, fortunatel;, just at this time Robes- pierre was overthrown and the work of death was stayed. Being obnoxious to the Jacobins (both having been educated at the military school of Calmar, in Germany), the two brothers, in company with Albert Gallatin. sailed to this country to await more quiet times, tor Jean had been a military instructor and leader of the aristocracy, and Charles had once held a commission in the unfortunate Swiss body-guard of Louis XVI. The broth- ers married in this country sisters the daughters of Edmond Hagan, a political refugee from Ireland. When the troubles in Europe were stilled, Jean returned to Geneva and died. leaving no male issue. Antoine Charles took up his residence about the year 1799 in Alexandria, Virginia where. as a commission mer- chant and a polished Christian gentieman, he passed a long life, highly respected. His descendents are numerous and widely scattered from Massachusetts to Georgia. Another branch of the family settled in Holland. A descendant, Theophile Caze- nove, Dutch minister to the United States, led over a colony of Hollanders to Central New York, which settled in and around the town, Cazenove. Still another branch of the family returned from Geneva to France and its representatives now reside in Lyons. Raoul De Cazenove is the head.ªª
Dr. Louis Contesse lived and practiced his profession in Wil- liamsburg, Virginia, during the first quarter of the eighteenth century. Neither the date of his emigration, nor the definite
aa Foote, pp, 574, 577.
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INTRODUCTION.
place of his birth in France have been transmitted.bb He pat. ented, August 12, 1725, two tracts of land of 400 acres each on the south side of James river in Henrico county. The first is described as lying near the land of John Lavillain, and the sec- ond as being bounded by the lands of Francis and John James fflorenoy (Flournoy).ºº
His only daughter, Anne Contesse, married John Tyler, Mar- shall of the Court of Vice-Admiralty of Virginia. Her son, John Tyler, the father of President John Tyler, was born Febru- ary 28, 1747, and died January 6, 1813. He was successively Speaker of the House of Delegates, Judge of the General Court, Governor of the State, and Judge of the United States District Court for Virginia. The name, Contesse, survives only as a Christian appellation in Virginia, but the lineage is represented in the names of Tyler, Seawell, Bouldin, Greenhow, and others similarly esteemed.
Edward Jaquelin or Jacquelin, son of John and Elizabeth (Craddock) Jaquelin, of county Kent, England, and a descend- ant of a Protestant refugee from La Vendee, France, during the reign of Charles IX, of the same lineage as the noble family of La Roche Jaqueline, came to Virginia in 1697, settled at James- town, married Miss Cary, of Warwick county, and died in 1730, leaving issue three sons (Edward, the eldest)-neither of whom married-and three daughters : Elizabeth, who married Richard Ambler ; Mary, who married John Smith, who is believed to have been a member of the House of Burgesses, of the Council, and of the Board of Visitors of William and Mary College ; Martha, who died unmarried in 1804, aged 93 years. Edward Jaquelin " died as he had lived, one of the most wealthy men in the colony."
Richard Ambler, son of John Ambler, sheriff of county York, England, in 1721, migrated to Virginia early in the eighteenth
bb Marie Contesse married, March 10th, 1705, in the French Church in New York, Jacques Rezian de St. Martin en Ré. Baird, C. W., II, p. 305. Jean Contesse, of Rouen, in Champagne, was received into the French Church in London, September 10, 1699. He had a wife, Judith, and three children. Jean Moyse Contesse was in New York in 1705 and in New Rochelle, New York, in 1709.
cc Virginia Land Registry, Book No. 12, pp. 323, 324.
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INTRODUCTION.
century, settled at Yorktown, married Elizabeth Jaquelin and had issue nine children, all of whom died at early age, except three sons : Edward, collector of the port of York, married and left issue. He was a man of consideration in the colony, and when Lord Botetourt came over as Governor, he brought a letter of introduction to him from Samuel Athawes, merchant, Lon- don.ªª John, born December 31st, 1735, Burgess from James- town, and Collector of the District of York River, died May 27, 1766, in Barbadoes. Jaquelin, born August 9, 1742; married Rebecca, daughter of Lewis Burwell, of "White Marsh," Gloucester county, member of the Virginia Council during the Revolution and long State Treasurer. He left issue : Eliza, married first, William Brent of Stafford county, and secondly, Colonel Edward Carrington, of the Revolution, and member of Congress (no issue). Mary Willis married Chief Justice John Marshall. Anne married George Fisher, of Richmond. Lucy married Daniel Call, lawyer and legal reporter, Richmond. Upon the tomb of John Ambler, of Jamestown, Virginia (born September 25th, 1762, died September 8th, 1836), in Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia, the Ambler and Jaquelin arms are quartered. Ambler-Sa. on a fesse, or. between three pheons, ar. a lion passant guardani, gu. Jaquelin-On a bend, three roses. Crest-Two dexter hands conjoined sustaining a mural crown. The descendants of Edward Jaquelin and Rich- ard Ambler have intermarried with the families of Baylor, Byrd, Carter, Nicholas, Norton, Randolph, Wickham, and others of prominence.ee
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