USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. I > Part 43
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"Yours, Diantha Bostwick."
The sweet singers, Mr. and Mrs. Russell Cheney, will long be remembered by Christian workers of southern Wisconsin. They sang together until three years after their golden wedding day, when one was taken and the other left. Mrs. Cheney resides in Janesville with her daughter, Mrs. E. Lowell, and gives many interesting reminiscenses of her first years in the state.
Martha Lea Fowle was born in Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, May 29, 1821; was married to Russell Cheney, May 10, 1838. They started from Genesee county, New York, for Wisconsin, May 31, 1843; arrived in Yorkville, Racine county, June 27. On their journey they rode over the "corduroy road" built over the Maumee swamp a distance of thirty miles, after- wards crossing the Maumee river in a ferry boat, from thence riding five miles farther over log ways where the logs would roll under the horses' feet. After residing in Racine county a year
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PIONEER WOMEN OF ROCK COUNTY
and a half. in May, 1845, Mr. and Mrs. Cheney removed to Emer- ald Grove, Wis., where they lived for forty-seven years. At this time all the region for miles south and west was broken prairie. There were only three families at the Grove.
December 6, 1846, the Congregational Society was organized in Erastus Dean's kitchen. The Congregational church edifice was erected in 1854, the Methodists building two years later.
In 1891 Mrs. Cheney removed to Janesville, where she is patiently awaiting the summons to the "Eternal Home."
Mrs. Job Barker, nee Phoebe Upton Smith, was born at Rut- land, Vt., in 1803, living there until her fourteenth year, when she went to Buffalo with her mother soon after her father's death. She was married at Buffalo at the age of twenty.
In the spring of 1839 Mr. Barker purchased thirteen hundred aeres of land near Janesville, Wis. His glowing accounts of the country aroused the pioneer spirit in Mrs. Barker. In 1840 the family started westward in three canvas-covered wagons. The one prepared for the family was provided with "eribs and bunks" and conveniences for eating, and was drawn by a pair of fine Duroc horses. This wagon also had a double bottom, space being left to carry the coin needed to complete payments on land, as there were no banks to be trusted, and sharpers were watching for the unwary. The household goods were sent by way of the lakes, and some rare old pieces of furniture are now in the posses- sion of their heirs. In 1842 a stone cottage, forty feet square, with an ell and carriage house, was built on what is now "Barker's Corners." The stone was obtained only a mile away in a quarry near the village of Janesville. Eastward was rolling prairie; westward and north, beautiful woodland. The nearest neighbors were Anson and Virgil Pope and David Hume. Others were Messrs. Strunk, Pound, Spaulding, Southwick, Scofield, and Chapin. A little log school house was built on what is now the Shoemaker farm. The first teacher was Dr. John Warren. In 1846 Mr. Barker was one of many to succumb to fever, incident to the new country, and after a brief illness he died. Then commenced the widow's tragedy.
Mrs. Barker was a true mother and tried to bring up her children without change, as their father advised. Having been taught in early youth the peculiar doctrines of the "Friends," Mrs. Barker possessed liberal religious views more akin to those
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
of this day than her own. She resided until her death, October 19, 1879, on the farm to which she came in 1840. Her last years were cheered by the love and devotion of her children.
Cynthia Maria Cowan was born in Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, July 28, 1826. She was married to Silas Hurd, Sep- tember 2, 1841. Emigrating westward, they came as far as Buf- falo on the Erie canal and completed the trip to Milwaukee by the lakes. They arrived in Rock county about the middle of Septem- ber, 1841. Their log cabin, consisting of two rooms, was located only a few feet from the "Black Hawk trail" on the banks of the Rock river one mile east of Indian Ford. Mrs. Hurd was a Universalist. She always resided where they first located. By thrift and good business plans Mr. Hurd became one of the wealthiest farmers in Rock county. Mrs. Hurd died July 13, 1880.
Gray haired men are living today who cherish in sacred re- membrance the love and patient fortitude of wives and mothers whose presence shed sunshine in the little log cabins in the clearing.
In a letter written in 1839 to eastern friends by Mrs. William Wyman, a pioneer woman of Bradford township, Rock county, where these lines :
"Towel is my window, Clay is my floor, Stump is my table, Blanket my door."
The briefly epitomize and naively describe the primitive homes of early days.
A few of the noble women whose sketches are given here are with us still, crowned with the glory of years, but many have been called into the unknown land. In a few years the story of their hardships will be "as a tale that is told," only dimly remembered.
It is wise to "catch the shadow ere the substance flies," and hence these life histories have been written.
Mary L. Beers, 1899.
XX.
THE MEDICAL HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
By S. B. Buckmaster, M. D.
For much of the information which is contained in the sketches which follow I am indebted to the "History of Rock County," compiled by Colonel Orrin Guernsey and Hon. J. F. Willard, father of Frances Willard, published fifty years ago, and which was loaned me by the venerable Volney Atwood, now in his ninety-fifth year, who came to Janesville in 1837, to whom my thanks are due.
Half a century ago there were seventeen physicians in Janes- ville, two in Evansville, four in Johnstown, fifteen in Beloit, one at Footville, three at Milton, one at Magnolia, one at Cooksville, one at Shopiere and one at Union, besides a number of others in different parts of Rock county, who, owing to the scarcity of in- habitants, and the salubrity of the climate, being unable to find employment in the practice of their profession, engaged in the more lucrative pursuits of agriculture.
As this was but twenty years after the first settler came to Rock county it clearly illustrates the fact that among the sturdy pioneers who entered the wilderness for its redemption was a goodly number of medical men intent on establishing themselves in their chosen profession, and thoroughly in earnest in offering their services to the community for the betterment of their fellow- men, and in assisting in establishing courts, schools and every- thing necessary for opening and building up a newly settled country.
Everywhere they made their presence felt and were frequently chosen by their fellow citizens to positions of trust and honor and were prominent in every enterprise that made for the betterment and advancement of the community.
The first county judge of Rock county was Dr. Horace White,
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
of Beloit; the beautiful little city of Evansville was named after John M. Evans, its first physician; Porter township perpetuates the name of Dr. John Porter, he being a large owner of land, part of which he purchased of the famous Daniel Webster; Dr. James Heath gave the village of Emerald Grove the name it still bears; the first water power at Indian Ford was developed by Dr. Guy Stoughton.
Doctors served in the state legislature, and they were especially active in establishing schools, many of the townships electing phy- sicians as superintendents of schools.
The warrior and the stateman are loudly acclaimed and richly rewarded by their fellow citizens, but the physician does not so attract public attention as he quietly seeks to alleviate human suffering, his life being largely a history of private benevolence, full of charitable acts and deeds of kindness, which, while they do not elicit public acclaim, still endear him to those whom he helps during their hours of suffering and bereavement, and while his work rarely enriches him, it does reward him with the gratitude of his neighbors as a benefactor of his fellowmen.
The names of the early practitioners of Rock county should be rescued from the oblivion which is rapidly covering them; of many of them very little can now be ascertained after the lapse of half a century.
Goethe tells us that "Man alone is interesting to man." While Thomas Carlisle says "History is but the essence of many biog- raphies."
This incomplete record, therefore, will be a series of short biographical sketches of the early physicians of Rock county, con- cerning some of whom very little information could be obtained.
The first physician coming to Rock county was Dr. James Heath. Dr. Heath and wife came to Janesville from Vermont in January, 1836, spending the winter with the family of Samuel St. John, in the first cabin built in Janesville, opposite the "Big Rock." Dr. Heath gave the name Emerald Grove to that village. In the spring of 1836 he built his house, 16x16, at East Wisconsin City, which stood on the east bank of Rock river, half a mile be- low where the state school for the blind now stands, and of which city nothing now remains, though it was once a formidable rival of Beloit and Janesville for the county seat.
Dr. Heath opened a tavern and a store in his new building,
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MEDICAL HISTORY
later removing the latter to another building as business in- creased. A stage made regular trips between Dr. Heath's "stage house" and Racine. Besides being tavern keeper, merchant and farmer, Dr. Heath practiced medicine and is said to have been a skillful physician.
The story is told by old settlers that one dark night he had a call to attend a siek person on the opposite side of Rock river, which was at high water mark, and attempted to swim his horse across, but was swept from the horse's back and nearly drowned, being carried almost two miles by the swift current; his wife, at- tracted by his calls, plunging through the bushes along the shore, encouraging him to continue the struggle. His saddle bags con- taining his medicine case were found several years later miles below where he effected his landing.
At the first town meeting in Rock township, April 15, 1842, Dr. Heath was elected supervisor.
In 1848 Dr. Heath and wife, still imbued with the restless pioneer spirit, left Janesville in their covered wagon for the Pa- cific coast.
Dr. Daniel C. Babcock was born in New York state in 1818, and graduated first from the Castleton, Vt., Medical College and then from one of the New York city medical colleges in 1842, com- ing west and settling at Johnston, Rock county, in 1843, thus be- ing one of the first physicians to engage in the practice of medi- eine in southern Wisconsin. A few years later Dr. Babcock re- moved to Milton, Rock county, from which distriet he was elected to the state legislative assembly in 1847 and 1848.
The exposure incident to country practice impaired his health and he died in California of consumption in 1875.
Dr. Babcock's only daughter is the wife of Dr. Albert S. Max- son, Milton Junction, Rock county, Wis.
Dr. John M. Evans. Dr. Evans was the first physician at "The Grove," as the one frame house, one double log cabin and log school house was called when he settled there in April, 1846. When a postoffice was established there in 1849 it was called "Evansville" in his honor. Dr. Evans was elected to the Wis- consin legislature in 1853 and again in 1873.
Dr. Evans graduated at the La Porte, Ind., Medical College, which later merged with the Rush Medical College, Chieago.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
During the Civil War Dr. Evans was surgeon of the Thirteenth Wisconsin infantry.
His son, Dr. J. M. Evans, is now in practice in Evansville.
Dr. Evans was a 32d degree Mason. He died in August, 1903.
Dr. John Mitchell came to Janesville in 1844, when its popu- lation was only three hundred.
Dr. Mitchell was born on Christmas day, 1803, in Bucks county, Pa., and graduated from the Geneva, N. Y., Medical Col- lege in 1842.
Part of the present city of Janesville is built on what was formerly Dr. Mitchell's farm. In 1851 Dr. Mitchell established "The Democratic Standard," which newspaper he conducted for several years.
Dr. Mitchell was president of the Wisconsin State Medical Society in 1855, having previously been vice president. He was mayor of Janesville in 1864-5. Dr. Mitchell died May 23, 1885. His daughter still resides in Janesville.
Dr. George W. Chittenden practiced medicine in Janesville for over half a century and was highly esteemed.
George W. Chittenden was born in New York state, February 3, 1820. He graduated from the Albany Medical College in 1846, and the Homeopathic Medical College of Philadelphia in 1850.
He began practice in Janesville in 1846, and this remained his field of labor until his death, May 28, 1899.
His son, Dr. George G. Chittenden, was associated with him in practice for many years, and still resides in Janesville.
Dr. Robert Byron Treat. One of Janesville's early physicians was Dr. R. B. Treat, who was born in New York state August 2, 1824, graduated from the Eclectic Medical College, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1847, and began practice in Janesville in 1848, driving from La Porte, Ind., where he was married, through Michigan City, Chicago and Beloit.
Dr. Treat was one of the founders of the Janesville Daily and Weekly "Free Press" in 1853, and was mayor of the city in 1860, and again in 1863.
In 1871 Dr. Treat removed to Chicago, where he was in prac- tive up to within a year of his death, which occurred December 20, 1897. His widow and son are still residing in Janesville.
Dr. W. H. Borden. For more than half a century Dr. Borden
F.T. Lucas.
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MEDICAL HISTORY
practiced his profession in Milton and its vieinity. He graduated from the medical college at Buffalo, N. Y., in 1849, and came to the village of Milton in 1854.
During the Civil War Dr. Borden was surgeon of the First Wisconsin heavy artillery, and for years preceding his death he was a member of the board of pension examiners at Janesville.
Dr. Borden died in October, 1905, at the age of eighty-two.
Dr. Henry Palmer. For many years one of the most promi- nent physicians and surgeons of Wisconsin was Dr. Henry Pal- mer, of Janesville.
Dr. Palmer was born in New York state in 1827, graduated from Albany Medical College in 1854 and eame to Janesville in 1856. At the beginning of the Civil War Dr. Palmer entered the volunteer serviee as surgeon of the Seventh Wisconsin infantry. In 1862 he was made surgeon of the celebrated "Iron Brigade," and later was placed in charge of the largest military hospital in the United States, at York, Pa. In 1864 he was appointed medi- eal inspector of the Eighth army corps; in 1865 was detailed to close up the affairs of the hospital at Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ill., and was mustered out with the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel.
Dr. Palmer, after his return to eivil life, became prominent as a surgeon. He was professor of elinieal surgery in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, of Chicago (now the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Illinois), from its organization until his death, which occurred January 15, 1895.
Dr. Palmer was mayor of Janesville in 1866 and 1867, was viee president of the American Medical Association and was surgeon general of Wisconsin for ten years.
The Palmer Memorial Hospital, Janesville, perpetuates his name.
His son, Dr. William H. Palmer, is in practice in Janesville.
Dr. Simon Lord was born in Maine in 1826, graduating from the Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia, and came to Edgerton in 1858. During the Civil War Dr. Lord served as assistant surgeon of the Thirteenth Wisconsin infantry, and sur- geon of the Thirty-second Wisconsin infantry.
Dr. Lord was elected to the state assembly in 1879 and to the state senate in 1882. He died February 18, 1893. His son, Dr.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
James A. Lord, associated in practice with his father for many years, died December 1, 1900.
Dr. Joseph Bellamy Whiting. For nearly half a century the tall, erect, commanding figure of Dr. Whiting was familiar to the people of Janesville.
Dr. Whiting was gifted with a silvery tongue, and Henry Ward Beecher said of him-that the most pleasing presentation to an audience that he ever had was when Dr. Whiting introduced him to the people of Janesville.
Dr. Whiting was born in Massachusetts in 1822, graduated from the Berkshire Medical College in 1848. He located in Janes- ville in 1860.
During the Civil War Dr. Whiting was appointed surgeon of the Thirty-third Wisconsin infantry. Later he was placed in charge of the large hospital at Milliken's Bend, near Vicksburg, and soon after he was made surgeon-in-chief of the military dis- trict of Natchez, Miss., and also appointed military major of Natehez. Owing to disabilities incurred in the service, from which he never fully recovered, he resigned in 1864, and returned to Janesville.
In 1875 he was president of the Wisconsin State Medical So- ciety. For years he was a trustee for the state school for the blind, and also a member of the city board of education. For many years before his death he served as president of the United States pension examining board.
In 1889 President Cleveland appointed him a member of the Chippewa Indian commission.
In 1893-4 he was medical director of the Wisconsin depart- ment of the G. A. R., and in 1895 he was surgeon-general of the G. A. R.
In an address delivered a short time before he died he said: "I am standing very near that mystie line which separates the present from the future. I am nearer than you ; so near that with hushed breath I sometimes try to look into that beyond and de- votedly ask 'What?' No answer comes back; but I believe in God, His mercy, His goodness, His loving kindness, and I believe if we do our duty here it will be well in the hereafter."
Dr. Whiting died March 27, 1905, his death being hastened by that of his only son, Dr. J. B. Whiting, Jr., major and surgeon
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ROBERT MORE.
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MEDICAL HISTORY
of the First Wisconsin infantry, which occurred a month before his own.
Dr. Samuel S. Judd was formerly one of the best known phy- sicians in Rock county. He was born in Connecticut in 1828, graduated from the Cincinnati Medical College in 1857, and began practice in Janesville in 1864. Dr. Judd served the city as alder- man several times, as has his son, Dr. William H. Judd, now in practice in Janesville.
Dr. S. S. Judd was appointed surgeon of the Second Ohio regiment of cavalry during the Civil War, but was unable to serve, owing to ill health.
Dr. Judd died August 30, 1887.
Below is a list of the physicians who were practicing in Rock county in 1856 and their locations, and following that is a list of those now practicing in Rock county-fifty years later :
In Janesville in 1856 were Doctors W. Amer, L. J. Barrows, D. C. Bennett, M. L. Burnham, G. W. Chittenden, A. P. Coryell, J. Grafton, A. S. Jones, J. S. Lane, Erastus Lewis, Stephen Martin, John Mitchell, John Paine, C. G. Pease, O. P. Robinson, T. E. St. John and R. B. Treat.
In Beloit were Doctors A. J. Bennett, G. W. Bicknell, George H. Carey, A. Clark, E. N. Clark, J. W. Evans, Jesse Gage, L. Merriman, Jesse Moore, Richards, H. Smith, H. P. Strong, S. Spencer, E. J. Taggert, J. M. Tillepaugh and A. Teale.
In Johnstown were Doctors Daniel C. Babcock, Louis C. Bick- nell, Daniel M. Bond and John B. Fleming.
In Milton were Doctors W. H. Borden, Colliers and C. W. Still- man.
In Evansville were Doctors J. M. Evans and W. M. Quincy.
In Cookville was Dr. W. W. Blackman.
In Shopiere was Dr. Belding.
In Magnolia was Dr. Charles Wilson.
In Union was Dr. Thomas Armstrong.
In Footville was Dr. Butler.
In Center Township was Dr. Sylvanus Fisher.
In Clinton Township was Dr. John Tinker.
In Janesville Township was Dr. John Stacy.
In Spring Valley Township were Doctors S. W. Abbott (assem- blyman) and Jeremiah Wilcox.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
This makes a total of fifty-two known physicians living in Rock county half a century ago, all of whom have "Gone before To that unknown and silent shore."
-Lamb.
At the close of 1906 the following physicians were practicing in Rock county :
In Janesville are Doctors Edith Bartlett, Samuel B. Buck- master, A. Lovelle Burdick, George G. Chittenden, Michael A. Cunningham, Edward H. Dudley, Corydon G. Dwight, Ransom W. Edden, Frank B. Farnsworth, George W. Fifield, George H. Fox, James Gibson, William H. Judd, Egbert E. Loomis, Walter D. Merritt, James Mills, Thomas H. McCarthy, Clara Normington, William H. Palmer, John F. Pember, Robert A. Schlernitzauer, James W. St. John, Quincy O., Charles H. and Frederick E. Suth- erland, James P. Thorne, Guy C. Waufle, George H. Webster and Edmund F. Woods.
In Beloit are Doctors William J. Allen, Jesse P. Allen, Mary E. Bartlett, Samuel Bell, L. F. Bennett, E. B. Brown, May, 1907; Isaac Buckeridge, Austin F. Burdick, D. R. Connell, W. W. Crockett, H. O. Delaney, L. R. Farr, P. A. Fox, Ernest C. Helm, Arthur C. Helm, W. C. Loar, W. F. McCabe (since retired), W. A. Mellen, F. T. Nye, W. F. Pechuman, H. O. Rockwell, Anthony T. Schmidt, C. E. Smith, M. G. Spawn, Russell J. C. Strong, F. A. Thayer, Effie M. Van Derlinder.
In Clinton are Doctors J. B. Crandall, DeWitt C. Griswold, John Jones, Ulysess G. Latta, Mary Montgomery, Julia McIljohn, Albert S. Parker, William O. Thomas and O. P. Wright.
In Edgerton are Doctors Herbert H. Bissell, Bernard S. Cleary, Harry A. Keenan, Willard M. McChesney and W. W. Morrison.
In Evansville are Doctors Fred E. Colony, John M. Evans, Mary L. Ewing, G. Newman, Josie Ocasek, Charles M. Smith, Sr., Charles M. Smith, Jr., and George F. Spencer.
In Emerald Grove is Dr. Edward A. Loomis.
In Footville is Dr. Seth W. Lacy.
In Johnstown are Doctors William M. Rockwell and Mary L. Rockwell.
In Lima are Doctors R. H. Stetson and Mary H. Stetson.
In Milton are Doctors F. C. Binneweis, Justin H. Burdick and Ella J. Crandell.
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MEDICAL HISTORY
In Milton Junction are Doctors George E. Cook, Edward H. Hull, G. D. Kelly and Albert S. Maxson.
In Orfordville are Doctors Harold B. Anderson and John W. Keithley.
In Shopiere is Dr. A. B. Manley.
(Ninety-two in all.)
Dr. Samuel Bruce Buckmaster, writer of the above article, was born at Lima, Ohio, April 26, 1853. When eighteen years old he went to California and taught school three years at' Yreka, near the lava beds, where the Modoc war occurred and the peace com- missioners, including Major General Canby, were murdered by Captain Jack and his bloodthirsty Modocs. Mr. Buckmaster went into the lava beds as a volunteer in that war and one of his chums was captured by the Modocs and tortured to death.
Returning east Mr. Buckmaster began the study of medicine with Dr. Henry Palmer, at Janesville, Wis., and graduated from the medical department of the University of Virginia in 1879. He then attended the University of the City of New York, taking special courses, also, at Bellevue. In the spring of 1880 he was appointed third assistant physician at the State Hospital for the Insane, at Madison, Wis .; a year later became second assistant, and, in another year, was made first assistant. July 1, 1884, though one of the youngest men in the United States to hold such a position, he was unanimously chosen by the state board of super- vision for superintendent of that state hospital. He was the first western superintendent to adopt the non-restraint system.
After serving at the hospital for nearly ten years Dr. Buck- master resigned, that he might give his children better school advantages, and removed to Chicago, where he was elected pro- fessor of physiology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (now the medical department of the University of Illinois). He was also elected president of the West Side Free Dispensary, which treated about twenty-five thousand patients every year.
In 1894 Dr. Buckmaster accepted the superintendency of the sanatorium at Hudson, Wis., and in 1897 assumed the position of superintendent of the Oakwood Retreat at Lake Geneva, Wis.
Institutional life affecting his health unfavorably, he resigned and engaged in private practice in Janesville, beginning in 1898.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
Dr. Buckmaster has twice been president of the Rock County Medical Society, and for several years has been secretary of the United States pension examining board. He is a member of the Janesville board of education and is president of that body .- Ed.
Dr. Samuel Bell was born in Saratoga county, New York, May 31, 1841, the son of Adam and Jane (Yates) Bell. Baptized by Domine Van Dusen, of the Dutch Reform Church.
In June, 1849, the family came west by the way of the Erie canal, around the Great Lakes and by teams, locating in Rock county, Wisconsin.
When the subject of our sketch grew to manhood, receiving such education as he could secure in the public schools of New York and Wisconsin, in September, 1860, he entered the office of Dr. Corydon Farr, of Shopiere, Rock county, with whom and under whose direction he remained in elose touch for most of the time for four years. Attending regular nine month courses of lectures at the medical department of the University of Michigan, and spending his vacations as contract surgeon in Carver Hospi- tal, Camp Convalescent, Arlington Heights and the Old Red Tavern Hospital, at Alexandria, Va., and Nashville, Tenn., where he was placed in charge of "ward I," hospital No. 1, a gangrene ward, with 131 beds of hospital gangrene.
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