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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

EASTERN NEW YORK TIMELINE - 1765-1774


1765
August                       
New York attorney general John Tabor Kempe informs Indian agent William Johnson that English law does not recognize aboriginal land rights. Johnson will reply that the Indians are a sovereign nation and do not fall under English jurisdiction.

Sep 8                       
Canadian Indian Department official and politician William Claus is born at Williamsburg, New York (formerly Mount Johnson) to Christian Daniel Claus and Ann (Nancy) Johnson Claus.



1767
Jun 15                       
Parliament suspends the New York assembly for refusing to obey the Quartering Act.



1768
Sep 9
New York surveyor Jellis Fonda petitions the governor of the colony in the name of himself and twenty partners, for a grant of 20,000 acres south of the Mohawk River - the future John Bowen Patent.

Dec 16                       
Royal governor Sir Henry Moore suggests to the assembly the importance of improving the stretch of the Mohawk River between Schenectady and Fort Stanwix. Nothing comes of the idea.



1769
State
Merchant Jeremiah Van Rensselaer is born in Clavertack to Revolutionary War general Robert Van Rensselaer and Cornelia Rutsen Van Rensselaer, Merchant
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer is born to Revolutionary War general Robert Van Rennselaer and Cornelia Rutsen Van Rensselaer, at Greenbush-Manor House in Albany.



1770
Jan 1                       
United States Representative Nathaniel W. Howell, is born in Blooming Grove, to farmers Hezekiah and Juliana Woodhull Howell.

Jan 2                       
The 42,500-acre Scott’s Patent, in Schoharie County, is granted to John Morin Scott and others.

Jan 15                       
The 40,000-acre Cobus Kill Patent, in Schoharie County, is granted to Stephen Skinner and others. The 40,000-acre Skinner’s Patent, in Schoharie County, is granted to Stephen Skinner and others.

Jan 16                       
The 40,000-acre McKee’s Patent, in Delaware County, is granted to Alexander McKee and others.

Feb 3                       
The 60,000-acre second Otsego Patent, in Otsego County, is granted to Charles Read and others.

Feb 24                       
The 22,000-acre Kortright Patent, in Delaware County, is granted to Lawrence Kortright. The 5,000-acre Middleton’s Patent, in Otsego County, is granted to Peter Middleton.

Feb 26                       
Thomas Wharton and other investors are granted 30,000 acres in Delaware County, establish Franklin Township.

March                       
Land speculator George Croghan assumes a £2,000 mortgage owed to Philadelphia merchant Thomas Wharton in exchange for a mortgage deed for 20,000 acres of land in the Otsego region already mortgaged to New Jersey's Burlington Company.

Mar 10                       
The 38,000-acre Whiteboro Patent, in Delaware County, is granted to Henry White and others.

Mar 15           
The 20,000-acre Walton’s Patent (the second), in Delaware County, is granted to William Walton and others.

Mar 31                       
The 13,000-acre Nettlefield Patent, in Otsego County, is granted to Richard Loudon and  others.

Apr 11                       
The 6,365-acreWallace Patent, in Hamilton County, is granted to Hugh Wallace and others.

Apr 12
The 94,000-acre Jerseyfield Patent, in Herkimer and Fulton counties, is granted to Henry Glen and others.

Apr 24                       
The 8,000-acre Vaughan’s Patent, in Herkimer County, is granted to John Vaughan and others.

Apr 26
Harvard president John Thornton Kirkland is born in Herkimer, New York, to
Congregational minister and missionary to the Indians Samuel Kirkland and Jerusha Bingham Kirkland.

Apr 30                       
The second McKee’s Patent, 18,000 acres also in Delaware County, is granted to                        
Alexander McKee and others.

May 8                       
The 26,000 acre Adaquataugie patent, in Otsego County, is granted to Sir William
Johnson and others.

May 22                       
The following patents in New York’s Delaware County, are granted - The 2,000-acre Babington Patent to Charles Babington, the 2,000-acre Clarke’s Patent to
James Clarke, the 2,000-acre de Bernier to John de Bernier, the 5,000-acre Leake’s Patent to Robert Leake.

May 24           
The 27,000-acre Bedlington Patent, in New York’s Delaware County, is granted to John Leake and others.

May 30           
The Coxburgh and Carolina Partent, and the 47,000-acre Coxe’s Patent, both in Oneida County, are granted to Daniel Coxe and others.

Jun 15                       
6,000–acre Goldsborough Township, in Delaware County, is granted to Edward Tudor and others.

Jun 20                       
The 9,000-acre Franklin Patent, in Otsego County, is granted to Walter Franklin and others. The 14,000-acre Preston Patent, in Hamilton County, is granted to Achilles Preston and others.

Jun 29                       
The 18,000-acre Croghan’s Patent, in Otsego County, is granted to George Croghan and others.

Jul 2
New York, New Jersey and Connecticut printer and newspaper publisher James Parker dies in Burlington, New Jersey, in his mid-fifties.

Jul 13                       
The 4,000-acre Buffington Patent, in Schoharie County, is granted to David Buffington.

Jul 20                       
The 5,000-acre Edmeston’s Patent, in New York’s Otsego County, is granted to William Edmeston.

Jul 21           
The second 5,000-acre Edmeston’s Patent is granted to Robert Edmeston.

Aug 16                       
Militia under General John Stark, along with forces of Seth Warner, capture Lieutenant-Colonel Frederich Baum's Hessian forces at the Battle of Bennington, Vermont (later the New York Manor of Rensselaerswyck.   

Aug 17                       
Twin boys are born to missionary Samuel Kirkland and his wife Jerusha Bingham, in             Canajoharie. The children are named George Whitfield and  John Thornton, after prominent evangelicals and philanthropists.

Aug 24                       
The 45,000-acre Glen’s Purchase, in Saratoga County, is granted to John Glen, Jr.

Sep 6                       
The 9,000-acre Lispenard’s Patent, in Otsego County, is granted to Leonard Lispenard and others.

Sep 15                       
The 15,500-acre Stone Heap Patent, in Montgomery and Schoharie counties, is granted to John Bowen and others.

Sep 29                       
The 3,000-acre Claus’s Patent, in Fulton County, is granted to Daniel Claus. The 3,000-acre McLeod’s Patent there is granted to Norman McLeod; the 2,000-acre Roberts Patent, to Benjamin Roberts.

October
Reverend Kirkland leaves Eleazar Wheelock’s Indian school Grand Design operation, begins working with the rival Boston Board. This fall he will challenge Johnson, backing Oneida requests for outside assistance, and soliciting funds from the Boston group for a new meetinghouse at Kanonwalohale.

December           
English missionary to the Mohawks John Stuart sets up his base at Fort Hunter, formerly known as Teantontalago, or Lower Mohawk Castle.    **    Kirkland helps the Oneida petition New York’s royal governor, seeking funds to hire a blacksmith for their community. Sir William Johnson is offended that Kirkland hadn’t consulted him before making the request.

Dec 4
The 37,000-acre Strasburgh Township, in Delaware County, is granted to John Butler and others.

State
Additions are built on Newburgh's Jonathan Hasbrouck House.    **    John Murray, Lord Dunmore, becomes Royal governor of the colony.     **    Licensed inns are required to provide two beds, food for four people as well as for horses and cattle.    **    A colony of Irish Methodists settles near Ash Grove, in the future Washington County. They organize the second Methodist Episcopalian church in America.    **    Gloucestor County is taken off Albany County, will become part of the state of Vermont in 1790.    **    A Reformed Protestant Dutch Church is founded in the Ulster County town of Plattekill, with the Reverend Stephen Goetschius as its pastor.    **   When his Otsego lands are threatened by creditors George Croghan departs the area for Pittsburgh, leaving Augustine Prevost to manage his workers, who will not remain on the job for long.    **    New Jersey royal governor William Franklin pays off three Burlington Company shareholders - Henry Hill, Samuel Preston Moore, and Richard Wells - taking over their portion of company lands, including those in the Otsego area.    **    Sir William Johnson's  Anglican Mission Church at Indian Castle is dedicated as a Native American mission under the Church of England.    **    The third Prevost Patent, in Delaware County, is granted to Augustine Prevost, as were the first two.

Indians
The Treaty of Fort Stanwyx is ratified.



1771
January                       
English missionary John Stuart meets the Mohawk student Joseph Brant at Fort Hunter, begins learning Brant's language from him.    **    Indian agent Sir William Johnson summons traditional Oneida chiefs to his home at Johnstown, invites them to request that missionary Samuel Kirkland be replaced by an Anglican missionary, to cement their ties to the British crown. Kirkland will report Johnson’s activity to the Boston Board, and Johnson will complain to the board that Kirkland  has used his words without permission. The Board will apologize to Johnson, reprimand Kirkland, but it still promises to build a church for the Oneidas. When it’s built he will reluctantly agree to Indian demands to add a steeple to the ediface.


February
Brant moves away from his family at Canajoharie briefly to help Stuart translate more of the Bible into Mohawk.

March
Brant's wife Sasaya (Margaret) dies of consumption.

Mar 7                       
The 5,000-acre Maunsell’s Patent, in Washington County, is granted to John Maunsell.

 Jun 12           
The 50,000-acre Bayard’s Patent (the Freemason’s Patent), in Oneida and Herkimer counties, is granted to William and Robert Bayard and others.

Jul 6                       
The 9,000-acre Skene’s Little Patent, in Washington County, is granted to Philip Skeke.

Jul 30                       
The 3,000-acre Skene’s Patent, in Essex County, is granted to Philip Skene, his second.

Sep 7                       
The 2,000-acre Stewart’s Patent, in Greene County, is granted to Walter Stewart.

December
Stuart has become conversant in the Mohawk language.    **    George Croghan defaults on his debts to William Franklin and New Jersey's Burlington Company.

State
Otetiani tells a tribal council he dreamt three times he was a sachem. Tribal elders hesitate to make him one.    **    Colonel Guy Johnson, son-in-law of Sir William, draws a map of the Six Nations for Captain General and Governor in Chief William Tryon.    **    Lord Dunmore takes on the governorship of the colony of Virginia as well.    **    Colonel John Harper and David Hendry survey the Delaware County town of Harpersfield.    **    The Albany Gazette, the city's first newspaper, begins publication.    **    Indian agent Sir William Johnson visits Saratoga's mineral springs. He reports the discovery to friend Philip Schuyler.    **    Missionary to the Oneida Indians Samuel Kirkland is supervising four grammar schools as well as psalm-singing schools. He translates hymns and parts of the Gospel, and instructs his charges on colonial agriculture methods.    **    The Iroquois sell their rights to 1,150,000 acres in Herkimer, Hamilton, Essex and Warren counties, to Joseph Totten and Stephen Crossfield - who are acting for Edward and Ebenezer Jessup, agents for George III - for 1,135 pounds.    ** Johan Jost Erghemar (Herkimer) writes his will, leaving his eldest son Nicholas ten shillings. However, back in 1760 he had transferred land on the south bank of the Mohawk River to Nicholas.    **    The approximate date  Adam Yaple builds a log cabin near Mohonk.    **    Over the past 106 years the 1665 Nicholls Treaty with the Esopus Indians has resulted in 23 diplomatic missions.    **    The seventh serious famine since 1758 causes some starvation among the Oneida.    **      The approximate date land agent Benjamin Raymond, founder of the St. Lawrence Academy – today’s SUNY Potsdam – is born (location unknown).    **    The 1,150,000-acre Totten & Crossfield Patent, in St. Lawrence County, is granted to Joseph Totten and Stepehn Crossfield, acting as agents for lumbermen Edward and Ebenezer Jessup for $6,000. The Jessups have also paid King George III $40,000 to pass the grant on to them.


1772
January
Joseph Brant marries his late wife's half-sister Wonagh (Susanna) near Canajoharie. The ceremony is performed by German minister Pyet Halenbeeck.

Feb 21                       
An act calling for the division of Albany County is read for a third time before the colony's general assembly.

Feb 29                       
The general assembly passes the Albany County division act without amendment.

Mar 12                       
Tryon County (named for colonial governor William Tryon, later named Montgomery County) is formed from Albany County. It's divided into five districts; Sir Wliiam Johnson's "Fish House" (a hunting camp) on the Sacandaga River is located in the Mohawk District.    **    Charlotte County (later Washington County) named for England's Queen Charlotte, is formed from Albany County. An eastern portion will become part of Vermont in 1790.

Mar 24                       
New York’s manor of Rensselaerwyck is made into a district. Tryon County's Canajoharie, German Flatts, (henceforth Kingsland), Stone Arabia (henceforth Palatine) and Mohawk are also made districts.    **    The borough of Schenectady is incorporated as a district.

Apr 10                       
The 2,000-acre Jessup’s Purchase, in Warren County, is granted to Ebenezer Jessup and others, his second.

May 20                       
New York State politician-businessman Archibald McIntyre is born to Daniel and Ann Walker McIntyre, in Kenmore, Scotland.

July                       
Joseph Brant addresses an Iroquois congress, along with New York Royal governor William Tryon, at Sir William Johnson's home. Johnson says he will seek an alliance between the Indians and the Crown on his upcoming trip to England.

Sep 10                       
The 3,000-acre Glazier’s Patent, in Schoharie County, is granted to Beamsley Glazier.

State
The settlers of Schoharie erect a church.    **    Lands in the Ryegate area (now part of Vermont) are sold to land jobber John Kelly by New York.    **    Otetiani again tells a council he dreamt three times he was a sachem. The elders still will not proclaim him one.    **    Tryon and Charlotte counties ar carved out of Albany County.    **    Sir William Johnson erects a brick Tryon County courthouse at Johnstown.    **    British historian Thomas Mante's The History of the late war in North America contains a map of the Mohawk Valley.    **    George Croghan's son-in-law Augustine Prevost leaves Croghan's debt-encumbered lands in Otsego, reenters the British army.    **    Connecticut woodsman David Shipman moves to Hoosick.


1773
Apr 11                       
Mohawk Indian chief  Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) receives word from Sir William Johnson that the latter is returning to New York from England.

Apr 29                       
U. S. Representative Daniel Cady is born in Canaan, New York.

May                       
A party of Scots arrive at Johnstown, New York, to investigate property on Lake Champlain.

May 11                       
Early Erie Canal proponent Jesse Hawley is born in Newfield (later Bridgeport), Connecticut.

May 18                       
New York colonial commissioners Robert R. Livingston, William Nicoll, William Smith and John Watts agree with Massachusetts commissioners William Brattle, John Hancock and Joseph Hawley on a common boundary.

Jun 8                       
Whitelaw and Allen leave New York City to check out lands to the north.

Jun 23                       
Whitelaw and Allen arrive in the New Perth area of upstate New York.

Jun 28                       
Whitelaw and Allen set off with Ryegate developer John Church to see his property.

Jun 29                       
Sir John Johnson marries Mary Watts.

July
Minister Samson Occom visits Kanonwalohale, is impressed with the chapel built with Samuel Kirkland’s aid.

Aug 14                       
New York State lawyer, politician, soldier and U. S. Secretary of War Peter Buell Porter is born in Litchfield, Connecticut.

Oct 2                       
Whitelaw and Allen meet with developer John Witherspoon in Princeton, New Jersey, and purchase the Ryegate property.

November           
Whitelaw, Allen and James Henderson begin laying out lots for the town of Ryegate, New York (now Vermont).

Nov 7                       
Daniel MacLeod leaves New York City to inspect Beekmantown, New York, on the western shore of Lake Champlain.

Dec 22                       
The Great Lakes’ first customs collector Joel Burt is born in Oswego to Daniel Burt and Martha Bradner Burt.


State
Otetiana tells the Iroquois tribal council for the third year in a row that he must be made a sachem, adding that tragedy will ensue if he's refused. Nothing is done.    **    George Klock, a resident of the Mohawk Valley, takes Mohawk Indian Kadagwha to London, exhibits him, bilks him out of promised money and tricks him into signing away some of his lands.    **    Derick Scowton erects the first hut in Saratoga Springs.    **    The Mohawk Cornelius tells Otego Stream settler Richard Smith that Indians are making a brush deer fence (for hunters to channel prey) from the Susquehanna River into the woods for 6 to 8 miles.    **    George Croghan retains only 29,350 acres of Otsego area land, about one-eighth of his original holdings.    **     William Johnson hosts an eighteen-day council with 268 Indians. Total cost to the British - £538.2.4 (sterling).    **    Anglican schools exist at Canajoharie, Fort Hunter and Johnstown, and ministers of the church preach at Albany, Schenectady, Fort Hunter, and Johnstown.    **    Joseph Brant, a widower, marries Susannah Dekayenensere, sister of his first wife, in Canajoharie.    **     Mohawk Valley land  granted to former colonial governor William Crosby in 1734, with quit rent arrears under default, is sold at auction by the sheriff of Oneida County to Phillip Schuyler for himself, General John Bradstreet, Rutger Bleecker and John M. Scott. The land, known as the Crosby Grant, is the site of today’s Utica.


1774
January                       
Smallpox begins breaking out among the tribes of the Iroquois League.    **    The Reverend Samuel Kirkland, missionary to the Oneida at Kanonwalohule (Oneida Castle) travels to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, when he learns of the serious illness of his son George.

Jan 27                       
Sir William Johnson makes out his will.

Feb 7                       
Kirkland leaves Stockbridge to return to Oneida Castle.

Feb 11                       
Whitelaw and Allen write to the Scots American Company reccommending  a settlement at Ryegate.

Feb 24                       
United States representative from New York Robert Selden Rose is born in Amherst County, Virginia.

Mar 12                       
The Seneca Indian Otetiani (Red Jacket) tells the elders that a recent smallpox outbreak is the Great Spirit’s punishment for their not proclaiming him a sachem. He is made one and given the name Sagoyewatha (He-Keeps-Them-Awake).

April
Ill himself, the Reverend Samuel Kirkland returns to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, from New York State.

Apr 1
Sir William Johnson writes to Lord Dartmouth, British Secretary of Colonial Affairs and president of the Board of Trade, recommending that his son John succeed him as Superintendent of Indian Affairs.

Apr 5                       
The 5,000-acre Markham’s Patent, in Hamilton County, is granted to William Markham.

Apr 6                       
Two tracts of land, the Amherst Tracts, totaling 40,000 acres in Hamilton County, are granted to Sir Jeffery Amherst. The 14,000-acre Bishop’s Patent in Hamilton County, is granted to William Bishop, as part of the Totten and Crossfield Purchase. . The 5,000-acre Small’s Patent, in Essex County, is granted to John Small.

May                       
Nine men, and one family, including Robert Brock and his son Andrew, arrive to settle in Ryegate from Scotland.    **    The Delaware County town of Colchester is settled.

May 23                       
Joseph Brant goes to the Mohawk Valley house of Joseph Klock with a large party of Mohawk and forces him to make good on the money owed by him to Kadagwha from the previous year and to release his claim on the village of Kanonwalohale, then beats up Klock for threatening retaliation. Klock will prosecute Brant for assault. The Mohawks will threaten to leave the area, which would destroy Johnson’s Covenant Chain governing system.

June                       
John Wetherhead advertises New York lands in Scotland's Leeds Intelligencer,

Jun 6                       
Reverend Kirkland, his health recovered, leaves Stockbridge to return to New York State.

Jun 10                       
Reverend Kirkland returns to Oneida Castle, stopping at Fort Stanwix to deliver a sermon.

Jun 11                       
Governor William Tryon issues a report on the province of New York.

Jun 12                       
Kirkland preaches a sermon to nearly 300 Oneida, as well as several Tuscarora visitors.

Jun 20                       
A steeple is raised on the Indian church at Oneida Castle.

Jun 21                       
Future governor Daniel D. Tompkins is born in Scarsdale to Jonathan and Sarah Hyatt Tompkins.

Jun 24                       
Several Cayagwa chiefs visit Oneida Castle.

July
Reverend Kirkland spends most of the final week of the month working on the Indian church, reports that the steeple and the belfry are nearly completed.

Jul 1                       
The new Ryegate arrivals take possession of their land claims in the settlement.

Jul 11                       
Ignoring the pleas of his wife Molly Brant, Indian agent Sir William Johnson -  Warraghiyagey - refuses to postpone a council with the Iroquois at Johnstown, New York. He and Canajoharie chief Tekarihoga discuss the Indians’ past disagreements with George Klock, and the encroaching white settlements. Johnson collapses suddenly and dies two hours later, at the age of 59.

Jul 13                       
Johnson's body, on display until now, is transported to St. John's Church, in Johnson, where Warraghiyagey, is buried.

Jul 14                       
Johnson's widow Molly and her family move into Fort Johnson, as her son-in-law Sir John Johnson and his wife Mary move out, to Johhnson Hall.    **    The Iroquois pledge their loyalty to Sir John.

Jul 15                       
Kirkland learns of Sir William's death.

Jul 17                       
Kirkland delivers a sermon, on a text from Jeremiah, on Johnson's death.

Jul 24                       
Long Island schoolmaster Samson Occum and his brother-in-law David Fowler arrive at Oneida Castle as representative of New England Indians, to arrange for the emigration of its Christian Indians to Oneida.

August                       
Whigs in Tryon County form a committee of safety.

Aug 5
Utica dry goods merchant and grocer John Corish Devereux is born in Enniscorthy, Ireland, to Thomas and Catharine Corish Devereux.   

Aug 6                       
Kirkland and Occum travel to Fort Stanwix (Rome) to meet with Indians there.

Aug 7                       
Occum preaches to white settlers and a few Indians. Most Indians were delayed due to a a sick child.

Aug 8                       
Kirkland returns to Oneida Castle.

Aug 9                       
Kirkland discusses Christianity with a local Indian.

Aug 26                       
The 2,000-acre Kennedy Patent in Warren County, is awarded to Robert Kennedy.

Sep 10                       
The 40,000-acre Hyde Township, in Warren County, is granted to Edward Jessup and C. Hyde.

Sep 24                       
Kirkland arrives at Oneida, preaches in the evening.

October                       
William Neilson, of Erskine Parish, Scotland, arrives in Ryegate with his family.

Oct 4                       
The 18,036-acre Dartmouth Patent in Hamilton County, is granted to Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, as is the 28,964-acre Van Rensselaer Patent in Saratoga and Fulton counties..

Oct 12                       
Kirkland leaves Stockbridge, sets out for Oneida.

Oct 13                       
The Iroquois tribes hold a council at Onondaga. Joseph Brant (Thayendenegea), official representative of Colonel Guy Johnson, the late Sir William's son-in-law and successor, urges the Nation to ally itself with the British. Red Jacket, distrusting Brant’s connection with whites, urges neutrality. No decision is reached.

Oct 16                       
Kirkland holds afternoon and evening services in Schenectady.

Oct 19
Land agent and founder of New York’s Potsdam College Benjamin Raymond is born in Caanan, Connecticut (some sources say in Massachusetts), to Paul and Rachel Stevens Raymond.

Oct 20                       
Surveyors Valentine and Collins complete a survey of the New York-Québec border at 74° North.

Oct 23                       
Kirkland preaches to whites and Indians at Fort Stanwix.

November           
Ryegate pioneer David Allen arrives back in Scotland.  

Nov 8                       
New York’s Samuel Holland and Pennsylvania’s David Rittenhouse are appointed as commissioners to run the boundary line between their colonies. The Revolution halts their plans.

Nov 16                       
A Westchester County Loyalist minister attacks the Continental Congress in his Free Thoughts on the Proceedings of the Continental Congress, signing it "Westchester Farmer".


State
Ten farms on the Blenheim Patent are sold.  **    Cornplanter’s son Henry is born.    **    A Council of Safety is organized by settlers on the Vrooman Patent along the Mohawk River. Johannes Ball is named chairman.    **    An act is passed to settle debts owed by Ulster County to Albany County, but nothing is done. Another act calls for marking the boundaries of Ulster and Orange counties from east of the Shawangunk Mountains to the Delaware River.    **    Tryon County (later Montgomery County) has a population of 38,839; only 10,000 are whites.    **    A Council of Safety is formed in Schoharie County.    **    George Croghan's creditors and his Philadelphia agent Barnard Gratz agree to divide the Otsego tract lands into 1,000-acre segments and put them up for auction.    **    Daniel and Ann Walker McIntyre and their young son Archibald arrive from Scotland, settle in Broadalbin.    **    The first Quaker colony is established, at Watervliet.    **    Kingston begins keeping its official town records in English rather than Dutch.

Geography
The New York-New Jersey border is marked.

Connecticut
Physician, innkeeper and surveyor Pelatiah Fitch, grandfather of entomologist Asa Fitch, moves to Halifax, New York. Governor George Clinton appoints him judge of Cumberland County (later in Vermont).


© 2012 David Minor / Eagles Byte

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