History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 200

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304


USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 200


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


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REV. MATTHEW A. FOX, Oregon; he was born in County Longford, Ireland, in November, 1812; after a course of instruction under a private tutor, he entered Trinity College, Dublin ; in May, 1836, he reached the New World and located in La Grange Co., Ind., where he united with the Presbyterian Church, having studied theology under the Episcopal creed, in Ireland ; in 1838, began preaching as a licentiate; was ordained in April, 1839, by the Presbytery of St. Joseph, Mich. ; during 1839, he took charge of the Brooklyn and Newburg churches, near Cleveland, Ohio ; in 1845, he came to Wisconsin and settled on a new wild farm four miles north of what was afterward Rome Corners ; twenty years were spent here, ten in a log house "through the roof of which one conld study astronomy."


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As the sketch of the Oregon church shows, Elder Fox was the first Presbyterian minister to locate in this section of Dane Co., and for thirty-three years has he ministered to the spiritual needs of his peo- ple, his scarred hands of a Sunday in former days showing labor well and faithfully done on his farm, which he still owns, 300 acres on Secs. 13, 14 and 24, Fitchburg. In 1866, he built his pleasant village home. Elder Fox married, in Ireland, Elizabeth Cletcher, who died in March, 1874, leaving four chil- dren-William, Edwin, James and Marion (Mrs. Dr. Osborn) ; two sons, Loftus and Charles, died before this ; the present Mrs. Fox was Mary Nelson, widow of Judge Armstrong, of Janesville. Elder Fox is an excellent type of the pioneer preacher, erect, strong and manly, one whose labors and example have left a deep impress on the hearts of his townsmen.


HON. J. S. FRARY, farmer, Sec. 3; P. O. Oregon ; was born in Haverhill, Grafton Co., N. H., Oct. 26, 1821 ; when he was 15, his parents settled in Vermont ; he returned a few years later to his native State and thence to Boston ; ill health caused his visit and final settlement West ; leaving Boston June 18, 1844, he visited his parents in Vermont, left the 1st of September and arrived at Milwaukee the 18th ; locating in Oregon, he made a claim, "bached it" that winter, and returned for his family in the spring of 1845 ; he began in a log house on a wild farm on Sec. 24, $100 in debt; money loaned by his father was repaid with that earned by splitting rails ; in 1853, he sold out, settling on his present farm of 160 acres; lived until 1856 in a log house, then built a substantial one-and-a-half-story frame, 26x26, wing 16x24; has 120 acres under plow and well fenced, with the needed barns, etc. He mar- ried, in 1843, Miss R. B. Martin, who lost a daughter, Alice, aged 20, prior to her death, in 1868; she left three children-Luella, Orelia and Louis, all born in Oregon ; in 1869, Mr. Frary married Mrs. Hannah (Bartlett) Chase. Mr. F. is a Republican and a Freemason; has been Supervisor and Town Treasurer several terms, and, as Assemblyman from his district in 1865, had the honor of voting for the amendment to the National Constitution which forever prohibited slavery. A fact much commented upon in regard to the settlement of Oregon is that for a number of years there resided in the town at least thirteen men who were born in 1821; of these he can recall the names of S J. Pratt, J. D. Tip- ple, O. M. Palmer, J. B. Prentice, I. M. Bennett, William Dubois, W. Colman, J. Coville and John Ellsworth. He is a Republican, and has been Town Treasurer three years ; at the earnest request of his many friends in Oregon, he was made Postmaster in 1869, and has since held the office.


CHESTER FRISBEE, farmer, Scc. 33; P. O. Brooklyn ; boro June 26, 1802, in the town of Trenton, Oneida Co., N. Y. (the Holland patent); has been a lifelong farmer, though he was one summer in a machine shop in Verona, N. Y .; in 1844, he came West and worked a farm in Geneva, Walworth Co., Wis., until 1851. when his means allowed the purchase of his present 160 acres, then as the hand of nature left it, only that a log house was partly built ; this was home during the years of pioneer work-breaking, fencing, etc .; his frame farmhouse was built in 1865; for fifteen years all water used in his house was brought from the well of a neighbor; his present well was drilled to a depth of 116 feet ; substantial barns, windmill, etc., have been erected, and 100 acres brought into cultivation, all done in 29 years; Mr. Frisbee is hale and hearty, erect and alert, reads much and eats and sleeps well, and, in spite of his 78 years, is able to do " chores " and enjoy long rides. He married Mrs. Celestia (Burr) De Angelis, of Oneida Co., N. Y .; she died Feb. 4, 1832, leaving a daughter, Celestia, now Mrs. Phineas Vaughan, of Mower Co., Minn .; the second wife was Miss Emmeline Stevens, of Whitesboro, Oneida Co., N. Y .; she died Jan. 26, 1871, leaving six children-Ruth, Jeannette, James B., Frank, Fred and Bessie ; Adeline and Charles died before their mother; the four youngest are in O'Brien Co., Iowa, the eldest in Garden Prairie, Boone Co., Ill., and the second with her father.


GEORGE W. GETZ, wagon-maker, Oregon; born in 1820 in Northampton Co., Penn .; worked on a farm until 20; learned the trade of millwright at Easton, Penn., and followed it five years ; the family settled in Illinois in 1844; a year later, he went to Chippewa Falls, Wis., living for eight months in a howling wilderness, with only a few whites within 250 miles. From there he went to St. Louis, thence to Janesville, where he was in the lumber business until 1853, then engaged in the lumber trade in Stoughton until 1865, then farmed it a year or so; in 1867 or 1868, began wagon-making in Stoughton, removing to Oregon in November, 1870, and has since continued the manufacture of wagons, carriages and sleighs here. He married Maria Dily, in Milwaukee; they have four children-Simeon N., Rachel A., Lizzie and Cora ; the only son, born Nov. 20, 1852, in Janesville, is by trade a blacksmith, and is. associated with his father in business. He married Eva Huil, and has two children-Carrie and an infant. G. W. Getz is a Republican and a Methodist; his grandfather was the Revolutionary Gen. George Getz, who lost an eye at the Wyoming massacre, and a brother of the General was one of Gates' army when Burgoyne surrendered.


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SCHUYLER GILBERT, farmer, Secs. 15 and 14; P. O. Oregon; born Oct. 11, 1819, in Tully, Onondaga Co., N. Y .; his early life was spent there as a farmer. He came West in 1845, locating 120 acres of his present farm ; built a log shanty, with puncheon floor, oak door and a " six-light " window ; it was roofed with shingles sawed out by himself and wife ; in November, 1845, they moved into a good log house ; the lumber used in this was sawed from timber " borrowed " from speculators' lands in Green County ; in 1869, he built a good frame house, now his home; of his 165 acres, 120 are held under the old U. S. title. He married, in his and her native county, in December, 1844, Miss Hancy Hills ; they have five children-Frank, Mary E. (Mrs. John Draher), John, Josephine and Alice; all were born in the log house where the eldest now lives with his family. Mr. Gilbert is a Republican, was the first Treasurer of town of Oregon, served twice, and once subsequently as a Supervisor.


HERMAN O. GRAY, farmer, Sec. 22 ; P. O. Oregon ; born in the town of Benson, Rutland Co., Vt., Jan. 25, 1838; his father, Oliver Gray, born in Vergennes, Vt., Oct. 4, 1797, was a life-long farmer, a soldier of 1812 (his widow is now a pensioner) and married, in Benson (her native town), Miss Mary Goodrich ; she was born Sept. 14, 1803; married Oct. 13, 1830, and died July 18, 1845, leaving three children-Edward G., Fidelia N. and Herman O. Feb. 4, 1846, Mr. Gray married Adelia Farnsworth, born March 16, 1814, in Burlington, Vt .; E. G. Gray came west in 1857, located in Oregon and was joined by his parents and H. O. in January, 1858; they lived two years in Fitchburg and two in Dunn, then settling in Rutland, where Mr. G. died Dec. 14, 1863; in 1867, H. O. Gray settled on the Kurtz farm in Oregon, and, in 1872, bought his present farm of 92 acres; he leased this until 1877, and has since resided upon it with his stepmother. Is an outspoken Republican ; was Town Treasurer from 1873 to 1878, and a Supervisor of 1879 and 1880; also belongs to the Oregon Lodge, 151, A., F. & A. M. His parents were both Presbyterians, as is Mrs. Gray.


M. M. GREEN, attorney at law, Oregon ; born in Wayne Co., N. Y., Nov. 21, 1837; in 1850, his parents, Samuel and Nancy Green, settled on a new farm in Sec. 34, Fitchburg Township ; he attended the Oregon village school, and during the war of secession was the agent of noted parties in Madison to furnish horses on Government contract ; he read law on the old farm; located in Oregon Village in 1866 ; was in the clothing business in 1868, and then made an extended trip West, finally settling in Madison with his family, where he resided four years; he studied law in the Wisconsin State University, under H. S. Orton as Dean, and was admitted to the bar of Dane Co. in 1876 ; his present home in the village was formerly the Parsons Place ; here he attends a large legal practice in Dane and adjacent counties, and makes collections on a large scale ; he had eight cases at the spring session of the Circuit Court in 1879. Mr. Green married Miss H. C. Bennett, daughter of Egbert Bennett, Esq., one of Dane County's most substantial farmers ; they have a son, George E., now a medical student, and a daughter Hattie. Mr. G. was a charter member of Oregon Lodge 151, A., F. & A. M., and was its first representative to the Grand Lodge of the State; has heen Master and is now Past Master. Politics Republican ; was Deputy Sheriff four years and has been Justice of the Peace.


J. T. HAYES, dealer in machinery, Oregon ; born May 22, 1847, in Montpelier, Vt. ; fivo years later, his parents settled where they still reside, in Clinton Co., N. Y. ; his restless and ambitious dis- position led him to leave Oberlin College, to which good old institution he had been sent, and when only a lad of 12 he learned the saddler's trade in Redwood, N. Y. ; at 14, he enlisted in the 10th N. Y. A .; was made Hospital Steward, and fought with the Army of the Potomac; was in Sheridan's Shenandoah raid, and the battle of White House Landing; his was one of the first batteries to invest Petersburg, said bat- tery losing heavily in a desperate fight with the rebel Mahone, who covered the rebel evacuation and Lee's retreat; afterward did provost duty in Petersburg, and was mustered out there ; the battery was mustered into and out of the service of New York, on the old battle-ground at Sackett's Harbor ; finding himself in Chicago after the war, Mr. Hayes dropped a stick upon the ground, deciding to go in the direction one end pointed out; his settlement in Janesville was the result ; from there he went to Stoughton, and thence to Oregon ; he began harness-making here with Charles Waterman; bought him out and did business until October, 1879, since which time he has dealt in agricultural machinery of every description and the best manufacture. Mr. H. is a Republican and a Freemason. As a detective, he has the inside track, as he is connected with associations which assist him greatly ; and the services he has rendered in " nailing" the professional burglars who have " done " Madison of late, renders him an object of sincere hatred of all that class of gentry. He married Almira Sliter, of the State of New York; they have two children- Cora V. and Truman C., both born in Oregon.


WILLIAM H. HAYES, of Hayes Bros., harness-makers, Oregon, is a son of Plympton and Isabel (Zook) Hayes, and was born in Oregon April 15, 1857; began at his trade in 1872, and opened


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the present business Nov. 1, 1878; the brothers have the only shop in town, and make and sell any and every thing in light and heavy harness ; also, carriage trimmings, whips, robes, nets, etc. W. H. Hayes married Miss Alice, daughter of G. W. Getz, of Oregon ; their son, Stanley W., born April 20, 1880, is just twelve hours younger than his cousin Annie, daughter of Frank and Susan (Osborne) Hayes ; Frank Hayes was born Feb. 9, 1854, and has been a harness-maker since 1874. W. H. is one of the A. O. U. W., and a Republican. His father was born Oct. 12, 1822, in Burton, Geauga Co., Ohio, and settled in Oregon in 1846; was a farmer until 1870, and has since kept the Oregon Hotel.


ALBERT HOOK, musician, Oregon; born in the town of Oregon, Dane Co., Wis. ; son of Stephen and Lydia (see sketch of Stephen Hook) ; received a common-school education in the Dwight District, Oregon ; enlisted in 1864 in the 42d W. V. I .; was on detached service at Cairo, Ill., until the close of the war; returning, he attended Evansville Seminary two or three years, and has taught two terms of day-school; he began as a music-teacher in the Geauga (Ohio) Seminary, where Gen. James A. Garfield once attended ; after this he attended the Normal Musical Institute under H. R. Palmer; and since 1870 has devoted all his attention to the theory and practice of music; in 1871, he attended the Vinton (Iowa) Normal Musical Institute, under H. R. Palmer ; in 1873, the National Normal Musical Institute, under George F. Root. July 4, 1874, he married Mary A. McWilliams, and during the wed- ding tour attended H. R. Palmer's Institute at Dunkirk, N. Y. ; since April, 1876, Mr. Hook has resided in the village ; his class of musical scholars is constantly augmenting, he now having nearly 50, including a class in Madison ; he has also composed a number of popular vocal and instrumental pieces. Mr. and Mrs. Hook have two children -- Harley and an infant; are both members of the M. E. Church. After leaving his study of music in school, Mr. Hook took charge of the musical department of the Upper Iowa University, in Fayette Co., remaining about one year.


STEPHEN HOOK, deceased; was born in Kent, England, in 1813; his parents came to America when he was about 15, and after a few years in the State of New York, went to Ohio. He married in Brooklyn Village, Cuyahoga Co., O., 1841, Miss Lydia Fish, born in 1818, in Hartford, Conn .; they spent the winters of 1842-43, in Union, Rock Co., Wis., and the next spring settled in Oregon, Mr. H. claiming 240 acres, and living for a year or so in a log house on Sec. 34; he then entered 160 acres on Sec. 17, and on it built a log house which was the family home until the present frame farmhouse was built in 1876. Mr. Hook died April 9, 1880, leaving seven children-Calvin, Albert, Matilda A., Louisa J., Charles, Henry and Alice ; Charles Hook, born March 9. 1851, and Henry, born Sept. 14, 1853, are on the homestead, now a most valuable farm of 177 acres; Charles Hook married, in March, 1876, Sarah A. Mitchell ; they have a son, Harold L., born Feb. 25, 1878. The family are Methodists, and the sons, like their honored pioneer father, are Republicans. The Hook brothers have bred Poland-China hogs for the past six or eight years ; have bought of Kiser and Palmer, of Oregon, and Fowler, of Hart Prairie ; have exhibited at the Dane and Rock Co. Fairs and the State Fairs, carrying away their full share of premiums ; $40 in 1879.


ISAAC HOWE, M. D., Oregon; was born Dec. 28, 1824, in the village of Woodstock, Windsor Co., Vt. ; he attended the common schools, and for four years the famous old Caledonia County Grammar school ; Thad Stevens and Wilbur Fisk once studied there ; young Howe entered the Vermont Medical College in 1847, graduating as physician and surgeon in 1849; began practice in Cabot, soon removing to West Randolph, where he practiced until the spring of 1851, when he settled in Fulton, Rock Co., Wis. The Doctor is in all respects the architect of his own fortunes, earning means to com- plete his medical education by teaching; he taught twelve terms of winter school in Rock Co., farming and teaching until 1863, when he commenced business in Cedar Falls, Iowa; returned to Stoughton in 1865, and went into partnership with a brother, C. M. Howe; in 1866, they located in Oregon, the Doctor doing business alone since 1869; in 1876, he visited Kansas and founded the Florence Herald, still a live newspaper ; on the site of a store built by him in 1876, and burned early in 1880, he is now erecting two stores, one 66x22, and one 66x20; they will be well built and a credit to the village; Dr. Howe will carry an assortment of drugs and groceries in one, and lease the other ; his substantial frame residence he built in 1871. He married in Porter, Rock Co., Wis., in 1855, Miss Sarah Ide, a native of Saratoga Co., N. Y. ; they have three children -- Mary M. (a teacher in Evansville), James R. and Gracia. The Doctor is a veteran of twenty-five years' standing in Fulton Lodge, A., F. & A. M., and a Greenbacker of Dem- ocratic antecedents.


J. L. JACKSON, farmer, Sec. 11; P. O. Oregon ; born in Richfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., Feb. 23; 1817 ; his parents previously and subsequently lived in Wyoming Co., N. Y., where he grew to man's estate. Married May 13, 1840, in Aurora, Erie Co., N. Y., Miss Phebe E. Turner, who was born


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Jan. 16, 1816, in Naples, Ontario Co., N. Y. ; they came West in 1854, and located in the wilderness of Richland Co., Wis., cutting their road and not seeing a house during the last twenty miles of the journey ; accompanied by four other families, they built a mill, store, church and schoolhouse, founding the village of Viola. In 1860, Mr. Jackson was a member of the Wisconsin Legislature; in 1861, he went to Cali- fornia ; was two years in business at El Dorado Cal .; returned in the spring of 1863, settled on a farm on Sun Prairie in 1864, and three years later located on his present farm of 120 acres, the old C. P. Mosely farm and one of the first settled in Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have two children-Helen S. (Mrs Dr. C. N. Dunn) and Edson B., both born in Sheldon, Wyoming Co., N. Y. Father and son are Democrats ; the father was elected Chairman of Oregon in 1871. Mrs. Jackson is a member of the Presbyterian Church of Oregon. The daughter is a graduate of Hahnemann Medie .I College, and is practicing with her husband in Centralia, Ill. Her former busband, Roscoe Harris, died in December, 1876. The foster daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson Kathleen Church married B. S. Snyder; both are practicing physi- cians of Victor, Iowa.


ELIAS JACOBUS, carpenter and joiner, Oregon ; born April 2, 1833, in Essex Co., N. J. ; learned his trade in Newark, beginning at 15, served a six years' apprenticeship, at $30 per year and found ; in the fall of 1855, he descended from the stage at Rome Corners ; it was almost like stopping in the forest, as part of the hotel and a new store comprised the village; the land where his home stands was an oat-field hedged in by woods; he spent the winter here, assisting the Postmaster during the day and bunking on the counter at night ; began job work the next spring and followed it most successfully until his enlist- ment, January, 1864, in Co. H, 8th W. V. I .; was at once assigned to the pioneer corps, and buil . bridges, etc., till the close of hostilities. He married in Newark, N. J., April 16, 1857, Virginia Rey. nolds, born June 1, 1834, in Jersey City; they have five children-Anna M., Charles C., Willie A., Garrett H. and Emily V .; Charles C. was born in Blooomfield, N. J., and the others in Oregon. Since the war, Mr. Jacobus has made a competency for his family as a contractor and builder. He is a Republican, and a member, as is his wife, of the Presbyterian Church ; is also a member of the A., F. & A. M., and the A. O. U. W. Lodges of Oregon.


MALACHY KELLY, farmer, Sec. 16; P. O. Oregon ; born Jan. 15, 1835, in the parish of Moore, County Roscommon, Ireland; came to America in 1852 ; learned the currier's trade in Salem, Mass., and in 1855 went via the isthmus to California ; spent four years in the gold mines of Butte Co .; returned by the same route, and began the teaming and express business in Boston ; in August, 1864, he came West and bought 80 acres of his present farm ; 10 were cleared, and on this was a 14x18 shanty, seven feet high ; in this himself and wife spent five years, while he broke, grubbed and fenced ; his next 40 of school land was covered with the stumps of the original timber ; the destruction of 1,400 of these cost him 4 to 6 cents each ; Mr. Kelley's experience equals that of any pioneer, as his farm is cleared, has built a substantial barn, granary, etc. ; built, also a good frame house, windmill, etc. ; will soon build a sheep shed 18x80. He married, in Boston, Catherine Galvin, a native of Moore Parish ; she came to America in 1852, and they were wedded Feb. 17, 1859. Mr. Kelly is a thinking and reading farmer, who has made every dollar and every acre himself. Is a Republican, and with his wife, a Roman Catholic.


ISAAC A. KIERSTEAD, farmer, Sec. 12; P. O. Oregon ; born in the town of Randolph, Cattarangus Co., N. Y., Sept. 7, 1832 ; son of Abraham and Rebecca Kierstead, who were New Jersey people of the Knickerbocker stock; the family came to Wisconsin via the lakes, in the summer of 1843, the father making a claim to the present K. homestead, and holding it for a time under the Protective Claim Society ; the family were unfortunate in New York, and began in Wisconsin Territory with but lit- tle means; logs were rolled up for a house, and half the shanty roofed with shingles sawed out by the sire and children, and blankets were hung from this half roof, and the family "moved in" to this floorless, doorless and windowless shanty in November, 1843 ; only a huge fire, kept constantly burning, protected them from the blasts and snows, until the roof was finished of home-made shingles; to-day we see the blossoming farm and happy home of these brave pioneers of thirty-seven years ago, and feel like second- ing Greeley's " Go West." Of the five children, three are dead, viz., Lydia S. (Mrs. Bedford) ; E. A. (Mrs. J. M. Bennett), and Sylvester C .; their pioneer mother died in February, 1875 ; the father now 84, is near his son and only living daughter (Mrs. S. G. Abbott) ; Isaac A. Kierstead married Helen M. Sauls- burg, in 1857, they have three children-Elwyn H., Ida M. and Genevieve, all born on the old farm in Oregon. Mr. K. has been an honorable member of the Presbyterian Church of Oregon for twenty-four years ; is now an Elder. A Democrat in politics, and has been several years Town Clerk.


J. C. KISER, farmer and stock-breeder, Sec. 2 ; P. O. Oregon; born July 26, 1818, in Rock- ingham Co., Va. ; removed with his parents to Ohio, fourteen years later ; spent eight years near Dayton,


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one year in Logan Co., three years in Peru, Ind., and was then for five years in mercantile business in Millerstown, Ohio; in 1850, he went to California, and kept hotel on the Stockton and Sonora road; returned in 1852, and was in mercantile business in West Liberty, Ohio, until 1854, when he came to Wisconsin, and settled on his 300-acre farm ; bought it of Dr. W. H. Fox, when an 80 was cultivated ; Mr. Kiser has made his entire share of improvements, building his large and tasteful farmhouse in 1869, and a 40x60 basement stock barn a few years later ; has also put up other needed buildings, and has a well- fenced farm, though the tornado of May 23, 1878, destroyed 800 rods of fence for him. His wife was Elizabeth Bonsack, born in Roanoke Co., W. Va. ; they were married Nov. 18, 1852, and have seven children-Susan V., John B., Kittie, Addie, Carrie, George and Daniel Elliott ; the oldest was born in Roanoke Co., W. V., and the others on the Oregon farm. Mr. K. is a Democrat, a Freemason, and has been an Odd Fellow. For the past eight years, he has bred registered short-horn cattle; he has bought of E. P. Brockway, David Selsor, R. Oatly, of Henry Co., Ill., and George Oatly, Bureau Co., Ill .; usually keeps from twenty-five to forty head, and has been awarded a number of first prizes at the Wisconsin and Minnesota State Fairs, and many at the Dane, Rock, and Green County Fairs; Mr. Kiser is also a breeder of Poland-China hogs, having bought of the " Shaker " breeders of Warren Co., Ohio, and others.


JAMES LINDSAY, of Terwilliger & Lindsay, Oregon; born July 29, 1844, in Lancaster Co., Penn .; was educated in his native State, where he learned the trade of machinist ; worked at that and molding until May, 1861, when he enlisted in Co. B, 32d, Penn. V. I. His regiment was part of the 3d Army Corps commanded by Maj. Gen. W. S. Hancock, the present nominee of his party for President ; Mr. L. served out his time of enlistment with the Army of the Potomac; came West in 1865, and en- gaged in farming in Fitchburg until 1872. He married Miss Mary J. Terwilliger in 1867; they have a daughter, Hattie. Mr. Lindsay is a Democrat, and a member of Oregon Lodge 151, A., F. & A. M.




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