I16396: Ira CORAY (b. 5 JUN 1791)

DUTOIT: A Family from Moudon, Switzerland

Ira CORAY       (ID #I16396)

(male)
Father: John CORAY (dates unknown)
Mother: Phebe HOWE (dates unknown)

 

                                             __
                                            |  
                       _Elnathan CORAY _____|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |__
                      |                        
 _John CORAY _________|
|                     |
|                     |                      __
|                     |                     |  
|                     |_Abigail GREEN ______|
|                                           |
|                                           |__
|                                              
|
|--Ira CORAY 
|  (1791 - ....)
|                                            __
|                                           |  
|                      _____________________|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |__
|                     |                        
|_Phebe HOWE _________|
                      |
                      |                      __
                      |                     |  
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |__
                                               

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John CORAY       (ID #I16387)

(male)
Father: Elnathan CORAY (dates unknown)
Mother: Abigail GREEN (dates unknown)

Family 1 : Phebe HOWE (dates unknown)
  1. +Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
  2.  Ira CORAY (b. 5 JUN 1791)
  3.  David CORAY (b. 14 JAN 1794)
  4.  John CORAY (b. 5 JUN 1796, d. AFT 1857)

 

Died of accidental gunshot wound, according to the journal of his grandson, Howard Coray.

                          __
                         |  
                       __|
                      |  |
                      |  |__
                      |     
 _Elnathan CORAY _____|
|                     |
|                     |   __
|                     |  |  
|                     |__|
|                        |
|                        |__
|                           
|
|--John CORAY 
|  
|                         __
|                        |  
|                      __|
|                     |  |
|                     |  |__
|                     |     
|_Abigail GREEN ______|
                      |
                      |   __
                      |  |  
                      |__|
                         |
                         |__
                            

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John CORAY       (ID #I16398)

(male)
Father: John CORAY (dates unknown)
Mother: Phebe HOWE (dates unknown)

 

Circa 1857, he is reported at Burns, Allegany Co., NY, according to his niece Mary Ettie V. Coray Smith (Fifteen Years Among the Mormons).

                                             __
                                            |  
                       _Elnathan CORAY _____|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |__
                      |                        
 _John CORAY _________|
|                     |
|                     |                      __
|                     |                     |  
|                     |_Abigail GREEN ______|
|                                           |
|                                           |__
|                                              
|
|--John CORAY 
|  (1796 - 1857)
|                                            __
|                                           |  
|                      _____________________|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |__
|                     |                        
|_Phebe HOWE _________|
                      |
                      |                      __
                      |                     |  
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |__
                                               

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John CORAY       (ID #I16403)

(male)
Father: Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
Mother: Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)

 

                                             _Elnathan CORAY _____
                                            |                     
                       _John CORAY _________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_Abigail GREEN ______
                      |                                           
 _Silas CORAY ________|
| (1788 - 1841)       |
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_Phebe HOWE _________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--John CORAY 
|  (1813 - 1828)
|                                            _____________________
|                                           |                     
|                      _Uriah STEPHENS _____|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |_____________________
|                     |                                           
|_Mary STEPHENS ______|
                      |
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Mary Ettie V. CORAY       (ID #I14840)

(female)
Father: Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
Mother: Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)

Family 1 : Samuel HENDERSON (dates unknown)
Family 2 : Reuben Peace SMITH (b. 22 JUL 1823, d. 7 FEB 1907)

 

Her story was published as a sensational volume entitled Fifteen Years among the Mormons in 1858, and reprinted several times with various titles until at least 1876. She dictated her story to Nelson Winch Green, then of Wyoming Co., NY, in 1857, at which time she was staying with relatives in Steuben Co., NY. Her account has been frequently quoted, but without any serious attempt to understand the nature of the narrative. Some seem to regard it as an authentic record of pioneer life, while others treat it is a completely fictional piece of scandal-mongering. The problem of credibility was acknowledged in the first notice of its publication, in The New Englander and Yale Review, August, 1858. Some corroboration is available, however, from Mormon membership data prior to 1848, and in numerous personal records of many of the families who were her neighbors during the migration to Salt Lake City.

Her first husband is listed once in the published early Mormon membership records as Wallace Henderson, but no additional data seems to be listed for him under that name. (The listing as "Wallace" may be derived from a secondary record such as a family group sheet, in turn derived from Fifteen Years among the Mormons.) Many other LDS records show her as the first of the multiple wives of Samuel Henderson, Jr., b. 09 oct 1820, Belleview, Washington Co., MO. Evidently, "Wallace" was actually Samuel Henderson Jr., who survived until 1904, living with one or both of his other wives. The "early membership" records collection of the LDS Church notes the marriage of Wallace Henderson and Mary Ettie Coray exactly one year later than given in her account (30 jan 1844 instead of 30 jan 1843), but all later records in this collection refer to her husband as Samuel Henderson Jr. The actual marriage record, a civil record, is listed by Lyndon W. Cook, Nauvoo Deaths and Marriages 1839-1845, as Samuel Henderson to Mariet Corey, January 30, 1844, by William Earl, recorded February 5, 1844 in the Nauvoo Marriage Record (kept by the city sexton, the original volume is now at the LDS Church History Archives).

Mary Ettie describes the Endowment ceremony at Nauvoo, and specifies that she and her husband went through the ceremony on the same day, shortly before the exodus into Iowa, 1846. The Endowment records have been preserved, and show Mary Ettie Henderson and Samuel Henderson Jr. endowed on the same day, 20 jan 1846. No other Henderson's were recorded that day. Finally, the names of "Wallace" Henderson's other two wives are given in the narrative (though somewhat indirectly), and they match the wives usually cited for Samuel Henderson Jr. (though "Cutler" has become "Cutter").

Mary Ettie's account actually gives many details that can be verified, including the names and other information concerning her relatives and the people with whom she came in contact during her adventures. Her viewpoint is notably conflicted: she displays revulsion for the treatment of women among the Mormons, in words that are strikingly similar to those of women who have testified in recent years about their own experiences in plural marriages; however, she also explains that her only religious training was with the Mormons, and she is unwilling entirely to dismiss their beliefs, and especially the values of the long-suffering men and women who undertook the great trek to Utah.

Besides the problem of discerning which events are recounted factually, and which may be colored by other motives, another central problem is that of dates. Mary Ettie is recounting events that happened when she was very young, and seems not to have kept a personal journal. In addition, her account was written down by Nelson Winch Green, who then sent the manuscript to the publisher. There were thus several points along the way where dates and names could be misread. The original manuscript has not been located. While a number of the apparent errors could easily arise from sloppy penmanship, it is not now possible to distinguish between this possibility and other causes, which could include: (1) simple lapses of memory, (2) a desire to protect reputations, (3) a desire to keep secrets, (4) a desire to mislead the reader. Notes of Leonard J. Arrington, LDS historian, now in custody of the Utah State Archives, show he was willing to take such discrepancies as evidence of "lies", but it is not clear that any of these is significant in terms of understanding the narrative. However, the problem of chronology remains a difficult one.

A genealogy for the Coray (Corey) family is in the library of the Los Angeles Family History Center. It notes Mary Ettie's existence and marriages, but offers nothing further, and it fails to remember her famous book, which is quoted without comment. Mary Ettie's book itself is now available on the internet as part of the Univerity of Michigan's digital library project, "the Making of America".

About the publication of the book: A letter from educator Norman Allison Calkins to Nelson Winch Green dated 08 jan 1858 is in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Calkins asks for further information about the reliability of Mrs. Smith. The answer, which would be of greater interest, has not been located. The publisher, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, has been in business continuously since 1846, but the archives seem not to contain any correspondence relating to this work. The closest approach to a contemporary evaluation is found in Sir Richard Burton's City of the Saints (1862, see pp. 207-208, an annotated list of publications pro and contra the Mormon religion). This account calls it "the most offensive publication of the kind", and marks as particularly untrue the description of the Endowment ceremony, the account of Joseph Smith's last words, the headless body that Mary Ettie says she found in Nathaniel Jones' butcher shop (Burton says it "never took place"), and the tale about the history of Ft. Bridger. However, Burton was himself not an observer of any of these events, and so had to form his opinion based on the people he talked to in Salt Lake City. He does tell us that Mary Ettie's book, and dozens of others of similar import, were easy to find in Salt Lake City. We therefore have the situation where tracts based on "common knowledge" may have exerted an influence on popular thought, so that sensational theories reported by Mary Ettie and others might simply echo suggestions planted by earlier tracts. In other words, it is conceivable that Mary Ettie actually did hear the rumors she reported. Once this process is understood, the danger of putting much credence in rumors should be obvious, but rumors also tell us something about what people were willing to believe.

Chronology of the narrative:

1. Mary Ettie's birth date is given as January 31, 1829 in the narrative, but her endowment record (20 jan 1846, Nauvoo) shows the year as 1827. The ages she gives during the course of the narrative are approximately, though not exactly consistent with the 1829 date. In old handwriting, it is certainly possible to mistake a 9 for a 7. The 1829 date makes her young, but not exceptionally so, at the time of her first marriage. The closest thing to a census record for Mary Ettie that has been turned up so far is the entry in the 1856 territorial census, which does not list ages, showing Maryette Smith in the 15th Ward, Salt Lake City, next to her brother-in-law Richard Corden with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Henryetta. In the published index to this census, Maryette was transcribed as Marjelle, and Corden as Cordin.

The 1827 date is given in the following sources: LDS Patriarchal blessing, 1843; Endowment, Nauvoo Temple 1846; Howard Coray "autobiography" (1883). In addition, she is NOT mentioned in the appointment of a guardian for the minor heirs of Silas Coray, 04 oct 1841 (vol. 3, p. 369). In the Pike Co. probate court, guardians were appointed for both girls and boys under the age of 14, as demonstrated by other guardianships in the same volume, such as Elizabeth Hull b. 08 aug 1828 and Mary Caroline Hull b. 02 jan 1830, daughters of the late Norton Hull, "until they reach age fourteen"'; Charlotte Gard b. 28 feb 1827 daughter of the late Robert Gard who SELECTS her guardian 17 apr 1841 (she chooses because she is over the age of discretion) until she reaches the age of eighteen; Boyd Gard b. 25 mar 1829 and Seth Gard b. 13 feb 1833 sons of the late Robert Gard, guardian is appointed for them 17 apr 1841 until they reach the age of fourteen. If Mary Ettie had been born in 1829, she would have been one of the minor heirs of Silas Coray for whom the court appointed a guardian.

2. The date of Mary Ettie's patriarchal blessing is given as 1840 in the book, but this is not consistent with what she says about how the family came to be involved with the Mormons and moved to Nauvoo. (These events are placed after the death of her father, which occurred in 1841.) The official record, on the very page indicated by Mary Ettie, shows the date as 1843. Clearly, she had in her possession a copy of this record (including the page number).

3. The date of her family's move to Nauvoo appears to be about 1843. The Coray family is not on the 1842 LDS census of Nauvoo, but their signatures appear on the 1843 petition to Congress about injustices suffered by the Mormons in Missouri. The original of this petition may therefore preserve the only known signature of Mary Ettie.

4. The date of her first marriage is given as 1843, but published records relating to civil marriages at Nauvoo give the date as 1844.

5. The date of the endowment ceremony at Nauvoo is not given in the narrative, but is said to be shortly before they left Nauvoo for the trek to Garden Grove, Iowa. The endowment records have been published, and show Samuel Henderson, Jr. and Maryette Henderson endowed on January 20, 1846.

6. The next date than can be established is the sojourn in Mercer Co., MO. Mary Ettie and her husband stayed with the Samuel Porter family, and a marriage mentioned in the narrative can be dated to October, 1846.

7. The period in St. Joseph, MO is extremely vague with respect to dates or durations. The next date that should be unambiguous is Mary Ettie's arrival in Salt Lake City in the Joseph Young company. She gives the date as the middle of September, 1849. However, the Joseph Young company actually arrived at the end of September, 1850. The LDS historian seemed perplexed that Mary Ettie was not listed in the surviving arrival rosters, but the church history department now warns that the rosters are not complete. Now, Mary Ettie was very clear about leaving the Henderson family, because they were not going immediately to Salt Lake City from Kanesville, and moving in with the Joseph Young family who were soon to make the trek. The roster of the Joseph Young company (unfortunately not in its original order, but alphabetized) was published in Heart Throbs of the West, volume 11. There are two Young families in the company, that of Joseph, and another from Scotland. The Scottish family seems to consist of 3 members, with complete data. The Joseph Young family give the ages of Joseph and his wife, but the rest of the family is listed by name only. All of the names can be identified with the well-documented children of Joseph Young, except for one: Henrietta Young. Joseph Young's daughter Henrietta was not born until 1853. Our Mary Ettie was commonly know as "Nettie", a familiar variant of Henrietta. If the person who recorded the company roster were careless, he might inadvertently have turned Mary Ettie Henderson into Henrietta Young. Joseph Young's account book for this period, available in transcription on the Library of Congress "American Memory" website, describes some of the events of the trek, but does not mention family members. A transcript of the original Joseph Young list, obtained from the Church History Archives, does not include the entry for Henrietta Young, and is clearly incomplete, since at least 100 people are supposed to have been in that company.

There are other reasons for supposing that Mary Ettie actually arrived in 1850. Shortly before her departure from Kanesville, probably about March 1, Reuben P. Smith left Kanseville for St. Joseph, MO, where he was to leave with a wagon train to California. But we have the deed in Davis Co., IA where Reuben and his wife (whose signature is not noted at the bottom of the document, however) sold their land in May of 1849. It does not seem sensible for Reuben to have come to St. Joseph the previous fall, making arrangements to travel in the spring, and then at the last minute travel about 400 miles round trip back to Davis Co. to sign a deed. If he had intended to be a Forty-Niner, he would have first sold his land, and then headed for St. Joseph.

With the simplifying assumption that Mary Ettie was on the 1850 trek to Salt Lake City, it may be possible to make better sense of the chapters describing life in St. Joseph and Kanesville. While trying to work this out, a further complication was discovered in the 1850 census of Pottawattamie Co., IA. Although the census schedules say they were enumerated during September-November of the year, the families of Joseph Young, Orson Hyde, and others who had already left for Salt Lake City in June, are listed as if they were still present. Perhaps the census taker wanted to fulfill the census directions as accurately as possible ("The Name of every Person whose usual place of abode on the first day of June, 1850, was in this family"), and so had recourse to LDS records, neighbors, etc. in recreating the census listings for families who had already left. In view of the difficulty such a task would entail, it is not surprising that Mary Ettie, an unrelated visitor in the family, does not appear on this census schedule.

To continue with the problems of chronology:

8. They were married May 3, 1852, as reported in the Deseret News, by Elder Jared Porter in the 15th Ward. Mary Ettie's account says the sealing was performed by Bishop Andrew Cunningham, after he replaced Nathaniel V. Jones as bishop in the 15th Ward when Jones was sent to Hindoostan on a mission. Jones was appointed to this mission August 28-29, 1852, according to the Deseret News. However, the narrative also specifies that Reuben left for California just 15 days after their marriage, and that does not sound like something to be done in October or November. If Andrew Cunningham really did officiate at the sealing ceremony, it would have to be while Nathaniel V. Jones was unavailable for some other reason, and so Mary Ettie might have been confused about the reason for his absence, but did she forget who officiated? (The departure shortly after their marriage is the point in the narrative referred to by Reuben on p. 397, where he says that Mary Ettie was confused about his reason for going to California. She had thought the trip in 1852 was to sell his cattle, rather than because he was part of Major Holeman's expedition.)

9. The narrative is interrupted after the final departure of Reuben Smith in 1853 by several chapters dealing with dark intrigues. The first of these that requires discussion is the robbery and "probable murder" of Dr. Roberts. The reader will have already been startled to discover in an early chapter that Wallace Henderson was said to have died, but soon reappears. At that point, the reader may have returned to the passage where Henderson's death was announced, to discover the following clever turn of phrase, which seems intended to mislead, so as to make Henderson's later reappearance quite startling:

(p. 132:) "Wallace remained some time at Kanesville, and while there he lived with Harriet. I did not meet him during the time. He at length returned to St. Joseph, and soon after died, as we heard, with the cholera, which was raging fiercely at the time.

"Although I was sorry to hear of his death, and fully pardoned him then for the wrongs he had done me, yet I did not, I am willing to confess, mourn for him as one without hope. I should have been glad to know he died a better man than he had lived. Harriet, I understood, mourned him with the greatest bitterness."

A reader alerted to the subtle use of words that could make us believe, without actually saying so, that someone had died, might take more care in reading Chapter XXI, "Robbery and Probable Murder of Dr. Roberts". After she sees Dr. Roberts confronted by masked horsemen, whose identity she knew, and taken away into the darkness, and after the return of the men folk without Dr. Roberts, and refusing to reveal what had happened, she and her mother were willing to believe that Dr. Roberts had been murdered. But nowhere does she actually say that he was murdered, nor that any report or inquiry came to anyone's attention.

Members of the Coray family have identified the unfortunate gentleman as the Dr. Daniel Roberts who married Eliza Aldula Clark and lived in Schuyler Co., MO. This couple had many children, and their son Orville Clark Roberts married Mary Knowlton Coray, daughter of Howard Coray (Mary Ettie's brother) and Martha Jane Knowlton. Thus, the families would later be linked by marriage. A descendant of the Coray family told the LDS Church Historian, Leonard J. Arrington, that they had visited Dr. Roberts many times, "after he was supposed to be dead". However, when the robbery of Dr. Roberts was supposed to have occurred, perhaps about 1853 or 1854, Mary Knowlton Coray was still a small child, the families were unrelated, and it is conceivable that neither Mary Ettie nor her mother were aware that Dr. Roberts had survived, or knew very much of his family. Thus, the chapter could be viewed as a recreation of her state of mind, of her understanding of events in that place and at that time, but it could also be viewed as a deliberate attempt to mislead the reader.

Why would she wish to mislead the reader? The purpose of the chapter seems to be to illustrate what was meant by "milking a Gentile", and to explain the pervasive network of influence, power, and secrecy that facilitated such exploits. These mechanisms and others equally fearful were described by many other visitors to Utah, but Mary Ettie's is one of the earliest and probably the most detailed. She is describing secret events, which by their nature are difficult to prove or disprove, and so we are unable to assess her veracity.

But her choice of Dr. Roberts as the victim, while satisfying in a literary sense because of his connection with the Coray family in a distant past, raises a problem of credibility. For he is described as a Gentile, passing through Salt Lake City, perhaps on his way to California. But the genealogies now claimed by many descendants of Dr. Daniel Roberts seem to be based on a man who was very well acquainted with the Mormons, and very probably was considered one of them. Various genealogists have claimed that he was baptised a Mormon in 1841, though some claim it was at the Temple in Salt Lake City, which at that time was not even dreamt of, or at the Temple in Nauvoo, which was still on the drawing board. Also, it is claimed that he had a plural marriage. He married his first wife Eliza Aldula Clark in Medina Co., OH in 1822, but some genealogists provide an additional marriage at Nauvoo in 1846 to Delucia Holcomb. However, none of these events are listed in the compiled early membership records of the LDS Church, as far as we have been able to learn. There is even a story that he left his first wife and returned to Litchfield, CT, while Eliza died in Provo, UT after having been sealed to Evan Green. (About an equal number of genealogies place his death in Schuyler Co., MO.) The date given for Eliza's death at Provo, July 24, 1865, is suspiciously close to the date July 27, 1865 on one of two burials at Salt Lake City bearing the name "Eliza Aldula Roberts", both of which appear to have been infants. And the children attributed to his second wife are nevertheless present in his household in Schuyler Co., MO in the 1850 census, seemingly all the children of Aldula. Some of the information about Dr. Daniel Roberts is said to come from a genealogy in the collection of the Family History Library at Salt Lake City, the result of extensive research by a family member. Whether Mary Ettie's portrait of Dr. Roberts is intended to be a faithful representation of this man, or a composite sketch illustrating criminal behaviors of some of her neighbors, remains an unsettled question.

10. The most sensational of the central chapters, the murder of Wallace Alonzo Clark Bowman, is surely the centerpiece of the story, but no dates are given. There are other contemporary accounts, however, that place the meeting of Bowman and Brigham Young in April, 1853. Is it possible that the conspiracy to murder Bowman was invented? As if to refute this suggestion, the narrative specifies that Mary Ettie managed to view Bowman's body after the murder, and happened to have a small pair of scissors with her (not entirely unlikely in Victorian times), with which she cut a lock of Bowman's hair. She turned over this macabre souvenir to the Indian Agent, Garland Hurt, who told her he had passed it on to Judge Kinney, who was going to send it on to Washington, DC with his official correspondence. Garland Hurt, from Kentucky, was nominated by President Franklin Pierce on January 16, 1854, and confirmed by the US Senate. A few years later, Catherine Van Valkenburg Waite came to Salt Lake City with her husband, Judge Charles Burlingame Waite, and her account does mention a Bowman murder in such terms that it seems to have been common knowledge. However, closer reading shows she is probably referring to the murder by Bill Hickman of a Mrs. Bowman. The memoire of Daniel W. Jones (1890) indicates Bowman was a slave trader (confirming Mary Ettie) and says the dispute with Brigham Young was about the resumption of Indian slave trading in Utah Territory, and further, that Bowman was murdered by Indians who felt he had broken a promise to them. There is considerable scholarship on the Bowman incident, and no evidence that he was killed by anyone except "Indians".

11. Mary Ettie also refers to a succession of federal judges. She says that Judge Leonidas Shaver was renting a room in a house that had been owned by her brother Howard Coray. Judge Shaver was found dead in his room one morning, and Mary Ettie reports that it was widely believed he had been poisoned. His successor, Judge W. W. Drummond, had this to say in his own letter of resignation, March 30, 1857, as printed in the Oregon Argus and several other newspapers: He was convinced, he says, "after careful and mature investigation", that Judge Shaver "came to his death by drinking poisoned liquors, given to him under the order of the leading men of the Mormon Church". Judge Drummond's statement is thus roughly contemporary with Mary Ettie's account, and makes even more specific charges. (Judge Shaver died in June, 1855, and was buried in Salt Lake City. A funeral oration was preached by Orson Pratt, who, however, barely mentioned the deceased. Bancroft referred to the charges of foul play in his History of Utah, but disbelieved them on account of public praise for the late judge by Mormon leaders. Judge Drummond was notorious in Utah Territory for having brought a mistress with him, who sat beside him while he was dispensing justice. Consequently, his accusations were not given much credence in Utah.)

Her family:

It has been difficult to learn what became of some members of her family.

Her sister Aurilla marriage Mahlon Dusenberry. Mormon sources indicate they headed west from Pike Co., IL in 1860, arriving in Salt Lake City in July. Mahlon was displeased by what he found there and took the family on to California, settling according to the same sources first in Los Angeles, then in Sacramento. But Aurilla found the California settlers intolerable, and so left Mahlon and their eldest son John in Sacramento, taking the other children back to Salt Lake City, where she stayed. Mahlon remained in Sacramento and died there in 1899. He is on the 1880 census in Sacramento, ED 78, p. 28C, a divorced man age 60 (incorrect, he was actually 71), carpenter, rooming with E. K. Hawkins age 44, bookkeeper. The census index calls him "Duserdery". He is also on the 1890 Great Register, living at 511 I Street in Sacramento. The Dusenberry's have not been located in 1860, presumably because they were in transit and missed the census enumerators. Mahlon and his son John have not been found in 1870, but it is still possible his name has been misspelled and that he was living somewhere besides Sacramento.

Harriet Elizabeth Coray married Richard Cordon in Salt Lake City about 1854, and they traveled with Mary Ettie and her mother back to New York in 1856 with their infant daughter Henrietta. This family is also on the 1856 Utah census. But by the time Mary Ettie died in 1867, "Lizzie" had remarried to someone named Ogden, and it was under that name that Reuben's last wife and her sister knew Lizzie. Lizzie was the an additional source of their knowledge about Mary Ettie, as they reported to the pension examiner when Reuben's widow sought a pension for his Civil War service. They sisters said that Lizzie's entire family had died, apparently from tuberculosis.

After pondering Mary Ettie and her story for some years, we finally realized that it is only in those passages of her narrative where Reuben Smith is absent, that dire events occur. These events are always of such a nature as to put Mary Ettie at personal risk because of her secret knowledge. It is apparent from Reuben's contribution to the narrative that he believed what his wife told him. We have come to the conclusion that these tales were invented precisely to deceive Reuben, rather than the general public. Mary Ettie did what she could to endear herself to the handsome gentile, observing correctly that he would not subject her to the horrors of polygamy. Once they were married, she was safe from the attentions of other men who had designs on her as a plural wife. But she did not like the idea of living in California, either, and so she made sure he left without her, and then sent excuses why she was unable to join him later, for a period of several years. This was the likely genesis of the stories that became Fifteen Years Among the Mormons.

A more detailed discussion of our research on Fifteen Years Among the Mormons is available here.

[5337] There are two birthdates. In her narrative, she claims 31 jan 1829, but the 1827 date is believed to be correct.

[14758] Married by Andrew Cunningham, ward Bishop, according to Mary Ettie's narrative, and just before Reuben left for California. Official record (from Deseret News) differs somewhat.

                                             _Elnathan CORAY _____
                                            |                     
                       _John CORAY _________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_Abigail GREEN ______
                      |                                           
 _Silas CORAY ________|
| (1788 - 1841)       |
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_Phebe HOWE _________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Mary Ettie V. CORAY 
|  (1827 - 1867)
|                                            _____________________
|                                           |                     
|                      _Uriah STEPHENS _____|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |_____________________
|                     |                                           
|_Mary STEPHENS ______|
                      |
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Phebe CORAY       (ID #I16404)

(female)
Father: Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
Mother: Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)

 

                                             _Elnathan CORAY _____
                                            |                     
                       _John CORAY _________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_Abigail GREEN ______
                      |                                           
 _Silas CORAY ________|
| (1788 - 1841)       |
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_Phebe HOWE _________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Phebe CORAY 
|  (1815 - ....)
|                                            _____________________
|                                           |                     
|                      _Uriah STEPHENS _____|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |_____________________
|                     |                                           
|_Mary STEPHENS ______|
                      |
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Sarah Ann CORAY       (ID #I16402)

(female)
Father: Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
Mother: Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)

 

[6081] Stephens genealogy.

                                             _Elnathan CORAY _____
                                            |                     
                       _John CORAY _________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_Abigail GREEN ______
                      |                                           
 _Silas CORAY ________|
| (1788 - 1841)       |
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_Phebe HOWE _________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Sarah Ann CORAY 
|  (1811 - ....)
|                                            _____________________
|                                           |                     
|                      _Uriah STEPHENS _____|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |_____________________
|                     |                                           
|_Mary STEPHENS ______|
                      |
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Silas CORAY       (ID #I16395)

(male)
Father: John CORAY (dates unknown)
Mother: Phebe HOWE (dates unknown)

Family 1 : Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)
  1.  Aurilla CORAY (b. 22 JAN 1809)
  2.  Sarah Ann CORAY (b. 16 MAR 1811)
  3.  John CORAY (b. 27 MAR 1813, d. JUN 1828)
  4.  Phebe CORAY (b. 21 MAY 1815)
  5.  George CORAY (b. 4 MAY 1819)
  6.  Betsey CORAY (b. SEP 1821)
  7.  William CORAY (b. 1823, d. 7 MAR 1849)
  8.  Mary Ettie V. CORAY (b. 31 JAN 1827, d. 1867)
  9.  Uriah CORAY (b. 31 OCT 1830, d. 1853)
  10.  Harriet Elizabeth ("Lizzie") CORAY (b. FEB 1834, d. AFT 1867)

 

Originally from Luzerne Co., PA, he was in Allegany Co., NY when he met and married his wife Mary Stephens. After the birth of their second child, they moved back to Luzerne Co., PA, where they remained until 1839, when they settled in Perry Tp., Pike Co., IL. Silas still had an interest in a property in Luzerne Co. at the time of his death, for which James S. Bedford, executor, posted bond 09 nov 1852 (Luzerne Co. probate registers, which, however, failed to reveal anything further).

                                             __
                                            |  
                       _Elnathan CORAY _____|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |__
                      |                        
 _John CORAY _________|
|                     |
|                     |                      __
|                     |                     |  
|                     |_Abigail GREEN ______|
|                                           |
|                                           |__
|                                              
|
|--Silas CORAY 
|  (1788 - 1841)
|                                            __
|                                           |  
|                      _____________________|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |__
|                     |                        
|_Phebe HOWE _________|
                      |
                      |                      __
                      |                     |  
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |__
                                               

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Uriah CORAY       (ID #I16408)

(male)
Father: Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
Mother: Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)

 

His sister Mary Ettie V. Coray Smith reports that Uriah was sent to California by the Mormons about 1850-51. The family received a letter dated May 1853 indicating he was ready to return to Utah, but he died in California before he could begin the journey. In the 1852 census of California, he is listed as a miner in El Dorado Co., age 21, born in PA (July, 1852, vol. 2, page 25).

[6084] Date given in probate records of his father's estate.

                                             _Elnathan CORAY _____
                                            |                     
                       _John CORAY _________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_Abigail GREEN ______
                      |                                           
 _Silas CORAY ________|
| (1788 - 1841)       |
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_Phebe HOWE _________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Uriah CORAY 
|  (1830 - 1853)
|                                            _____________________
|                                           |                     
|                      _Uriah STEPHENS _____|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |_____________________
|                     |                                           
|_Mary STEPHENS ______|
                      |
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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William CORAY       (ID #I16407)

(male)
Father: Silas CORAY (b. 18 MAR 1788, d. 22 JAN 1841)
Mother: Mary STEPHENS (dates unknown)

 

Member of the Mormon Battalion in the Mexican-American War, and accompanied on that expedition by his wife.

                                             _Elnathan CORAY _____
                                            |                     
                       _John CORAY _________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_Abigail GREEN ______
                      |                                           
 _Silas CORAY ________|
| (1788 - 1841)       |
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_Phebe HOWE _________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--William CORAY 
|  (1823 - 1849)
|                                            _____________________
|                                           |                     
|                      _Uriah STEPHENS _____|
|                     |                     |
|                     |                     |_____________________
|                     |                                           
|_Mary STEPHENS ______|
                      |
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_____________________|
                                            |
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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David CORBAZ       (ID #I4389)

(male)
Family 1 : Jeanne RAMUZ (dates unknown)
  1. +Julie CORBAZ (dates unknown)

 

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Julie CORBAZ       (ID #I4388)

(female)
Father: David CORBAZ (dates unknown)
Mother: Jeanne RAMUZ (dates unknown)

Family 1 : Jean Pierre DUTOIT (b. 19 JAN 1782)
  1.  Jeanne Louise EMILIE (b. 30 NOV 1815)
  2.  Louise Fran�oise DUTOIT (b. 17 JUN 1817)
  3.  Marie Catherine DUTOIT (b. 9 OCT 1819)
  4.  Rose Louise DUTOIT (b. 18 NOV 1823)

 

                          __
                         |  
                       __|
                      |  |
                      |  |__
                      |     
 _David CORBAZ _______|
|                     |
|                     |   __
|                     |  |  
|                     |__|
|                        |
|                        |__
|                           
|
|--Julie CORBAZ 
|  
|                         __
|                        |  
|                      __|
|                     |  |
|                     |  |__
|                     |     
|_Jeanne RAMUZ _______|
                      |
                      |   __
                      |  |  
                      |__|
                         |
                         |__
                            

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Claude CORBET       (ID #I10746)

(male)
Family 1 :
  1.  Claude Antoine CORBET (dates unknown)

 

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Claude Antoine CORBET       (ID #I10745)

(male)
Father: Claude CORBET (dates unknown)

Family 1 : Fran�oise REVERDIL (bp. 8 APR 1642)

 

                          __
                         |  
                       __|
                      |  |
                      |  |__
                      |     
 _Claude CORBET ______|
|                     |
|                     |   __
|                     |  |  
|                     |__|
|                        |
|                        |__
|                           
|
|--Claude Antoine CORBET 
|  
|                         __
|                        |  
|                      __|
|                     |  |
|                     |  |__
|                     |     
|_____________________|
                      |
                      |   __
                      |  |  
                      |__|
                         |
                         |__
                            

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Albert LeRoy CORBIN       (ID #I12703)

(male)
Father: Charles CORBIN (b. 25 JUN 1882)
Mother: Bessie Mildred PARKER (b. 29 JAN 1889, d. 25 JUN 1920)

 

still living - details excluded

                                                  ________________________________
                                                 |                                
                          _______________________|
                         |                       |
                         |                       |________________________________
                         |                                                        
 _Charles CORBIN ________|
| (1882 - ....) m 1908   |
|                        |                        ________________________________
|                        |                       |                                
|                        |_______________________|
|                                                |
|                                                |________________________________
|                                                                                 
|
|--Albert LeRoy CORBIN 
|  
|                                                 ________________________________
|                                                |                                
|                         _Stephen PARKER _______|
|                        | (1861 - 1890) m 1884  |
|                        |                       |________________________________
|                        |                                                        
|_Bessie Mildred PARKER _|
  (1889 - 1920) m 1908   |
                         |                        _Oliver L. BONNELL _____________
                         |                       | (1837 - 1905) m 1858           
                         |_Emma Lillian BONNELL _|
                           (1859 - 1934) m 1884  |
                                                 |_Caroline Vanarsdalen BOCKOVEN _+
                                                   (1837 - 1898) m 1858           

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Bernice May CORBIN       (ID #I12691)

(female)
Father: Charles CORBIN (b. 25 JUN 1882)
Mother: Bessie Mildred PARKER (b. 29 JAN 1889, d. 25 JUN 1920)

Family 1 : William SMITH (dates unknown)
  1.  Dorothy Bernice SMITH (dates unknown)
Family 2 : Ellis F. LEISTER (dates unknown)
  1.  Phyllis LEISTER (dates unknown)

 

still living - details excluded

                                                  ________________________________
                                                 |                                
                          _______________________|
                         |                       |
                         |                       |________________________________
                         |                                                        
 _Charles CORBIN ________|
| (1882 - ....) m 1908   |
|                        |                        ________________________________
|                        |                       |                                
|                        |_______________________|
|                                                |
|                                                |________________________________
|                                                                                 
|
|--Bernice May CORBIN 
|  
|                                                 ________________________________
|                                                |                                
|                         _Stephen PARKER _______|
|                        | (1861 - 1890) m 1884  |
|                        |                       |________________________________
|                        |                                                        
|_Bessie Mildred PARKER _|
  (1889 - 1920) m 1908   |
                         |                        _Oliver L. BONNELL _____________
                         |                       | (1837 - 1905) m 1858           
                         |_Emma Lillian BONNELL _|
                           (1859 - 1934) m 1884  |
                                                 |_Caroline Vanarsdalen BOCKOVEN _+
                                                   (1837 - 1898) m 1858           

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Betty Lee CORBIN       (ID #I12700)

(female)
Father: Lionel Henry CORBIN (dates unknown)
Mother: LaVerne GILBERT (dates unknown)

 

still living - details excluded

                                                 _______________________
                                                |                       
                        _Charles CORBIN ________|
                       | (1882 - ....) m 1908   |
                       |                        |_______________________
                       |                                                
 _Lionel Henry CORBIN _|
|                      |
|                      |                         _Stephen PARKER _______
|                      |                        | (1861 - 1890) m 1884  
|                      |_Bessie Mildred PARKER _|
|                        (1889 - 1920) m 1908   |
|                                               |_Emma Lillian BONNELL _+
|                                                 (1859 - 1934) m 1884  
|
|--Betty Lee CORBIN 
|  
|                                                _______________________
|                                               |                       
|                       ________________________|
|                      |                        |
|                      |                        |_______________________
|                      |                                                
|_LaVerne GILBERT _____|
                       |
                       |                         _______________________
                       |                        |                       
                       |________________________|
                                                |
                                                |_______________________
                                                                        

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Charles CORBIN       (ID #I12686)

(male)
Family 1 : Bessie Mildred PARKER (b. 29 JAN 1889, d. 25 JUN 1920)
  1. +Gladys CORBIN (dates unknown)
  2. +Bernice May CORBIN (dates unknown)
  3.  Selma E. CORBIN (dates unknown)
  4. +Lionel Henry CORBIN (dates unknown)
  5.  Albert LeRoy CORBIN (dates unknown)

 

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Clara A. CORBIN       (ID #I294)

(female)
Father: Martin L. CORBIN (b. 21 JUN 1830)
Mother: Martha J. LOWELL (b. 2 SEP 1828, d. aft 1899)

Family 1 : J. W. HUNTER (dates unknown)
  1.  Grace HUNTER (dates unknown)
  2.  Lucile HUNTER (dates unknown)
  3.  Jesse HUNTER (dates unknown)

 

                                             _____________________
                                            |                     
                       _____________________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_____________________
                      |                                           
 _Martin L. CORBIN ___|
| (1830 - ....) m 1860|
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_____________________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Clara A. CORBIN 
|  (1866 - ....)
|                                            _Josiah LOWELL ______+
|                                           | (1764 - 1853) m 1790
|                      _Josiah E. LOWELL ___|
|                     | (1791 - 1860) m 1813|
|                     |                     |_Susannah URAN ______+
|                     |                       (1770 - 1860) m 1790
|_Martha J. LOWELL ___|
  (1828 - 1899) m 1860|
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_Joanna HARRIS ______|
                        (1793 - 1866) m 1813|
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Frank H. CORBIN       (ID #I292)

(male)
Father: Martin L. CORBIN (b. 21 JUN 1830)
Mother: Martha J. LOWELL (b. 2 SEP 1828, d. aft 1899)

 

                                             _____________________
                                            |                     
                       _____________________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_____________________
                      |                                           
 _Martin L. CORBIN ___|
| (1830 - ....) m 1860|
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_____________________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Frank H. CORBIN 
|  (1863 - 1865)
|                                            _Josiah LOWELL ______+
|                                           | (1764 - 1853) m 1790
|                      _Josiah E. LOWELL ___|
|                     | (1791 - 1860) m 1813|
|                     |                     |_Susannah URAN ______+
|                     |                       (1770 - 1860) m 1790
|_Martha J. LOWELL ___|
  (1828 - 1899) m 1860|
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_Joanna HARRIS ______|
                        (1793 - 1866) m 1813|
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Fred L. CORBIN       (ID #I290)

(male)
Father: Martin L. CORBIN (b. 21 JUN 1830)
Mother: Martha J. LOWELL (b. 2 SEP 1828, d. aft 1899)

 

Apparently child of Martin Corbin by a prior wife.

                                             _____________________
                                            |                     
                       _____________________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_____________________
                      |                                           
 _Martin L. CORBIN ___|
| (1830 - ....) m 1860|
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_____________________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Fred L. CORBIN 
|  (1857 - ....)
|                                            _Josiah LOWELL ______+
|                                           | (1764 - 1853) m 1790
|                      _Josiah E. LOWELL ___|
|                     | (1791 - 1860) m 1813|
|                     |                     |_Susannah URAN ______+
|                     |                       (1770 - 1860) m 1790
|_Martha J. LOWELL ___|
  (1828 - 1899) m 1860|
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_Joanna HARRIS ______|
                        (1793 - 1866) m 1813|
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Gladys CORBIN       (ID #I12687)

(female)
Father: Charles CORBIN (b. 25 JUN 1882)
Mother: Bessie Mildred PARKER (b. 29 JAN 1889, d. 25 JUN 1920)

Family 1 : Francis THUM (dates unknown)
  1.  Richard Douglas THUM (dates unknown)
  2.  Barbara Susan THUM (dates unknown)

 

still living - details excluded

                                                  ________________________________
                                                 |                                
                          _______________________|
                         |                       |
                         |                       |________________________________
                         |                                                        
 _Charles CORBIN ________|
| (1882 - ....) m 1908   |
|                        |                        ________________________________
|                        |                       |                                
|                        |_______________________|
|                                                |
|                                                |________________________________
|                                                                                 
|
|--Gladys CORBIN 
|  
|                                                 ________________________________
|                                                |                                
|                         _Stephen PARKER _______|
|                        | (1861 - 1890) m 1884  |
|                        |                       |________________________________
|                        |                                                        
|_Bessie Mildred PARKER _|
  (1889 - 1920) m 1908   |
                         |                        _Oliver L. BONNELL _____________
                         |                       | (1837 - 1905) m 1858           
                         |_Emma Lillian BONNELL _|
                           (1859 - 1934) m 1884  |
                                                 |_Caroline Vanarsdalen BOCKOVEN _+
                                                   (1837 - 1898) m 1858           

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Harry L. CORBIN       (ID #I293)

(male)
Father: Martin L. CORBIN (b. 21 JUN 1830)
Mother: Martha J. LOWELL (b. 2 SEP 1828, d. aft 1899)

 

                                             _____________________
                                            |                     
                       _____________________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_____________________
                      |                                           
 _Martin L. CORBIN ___|
| (1830 - ....) m 1860|
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_____________________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Harry L. CORBIN 
|  (1865 - 1865)
|                                            _Josiah LOWELL ______+
|                                           | (1764 - 1853) m 1790
|                      _Josiah E. LOWELL ___|
|                     | (1791 - 1860) m 1813|
|                     |                     |_Susannah URAN ______+
|                     |                       (1770 - 1860) m 1790
|_Martha J. LOWELL ___|
  (1828 - 1899) m 1860|
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_Joanna HARRIS ______|
                        (1793 - 1866) m 1813|
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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Hattie J. CORBIN       (ID #I299)

(female)
Father: Martin L. CORBIN (b. 21 JUN 1830)
Mother: Martha J. LOWELL (b. 2 SEP 1828, d. aft 1899)

 

                                             _____________________
                                            |                     
                       _____________________|
                      |                     |
                      |                     |_____________________
                      |                                           
 _Martin L. CORBIN ___|
| (1830 - ....) m 1860|
|                     |                      _____________________
|                     |                     |                     
|                     |_____________________|
|                                           |
|                                           |_____________________
|                                                                 
|
|--Hattie J. CORBIN 
|  (1870 - ....)
|                                            _Josiah LOWELL ______+
|                                           | (1764 - 1853) m 1790
|                      _Josiah E. LOWELL ___|
|                     | (1791 - 1860) m 1813|
|                     |                     |_Susannah URAN ______+
|                     |                       (1770 - 1860) m 1790
|_Martha J. LOWELL ___|
  (1828 - 1899) m 1860|
                      |                      _____________________
                      |                     |                     
                      |_Joanna HARRIS ______|
                        (1793 - 1866) m 1813|
                                            |_____________________
                                                                  

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LeRoy Henry CORBIN       (ID #I12702)

(male)
Father: Lionel Henry CORBIN (dates unknown)
Mother: LaVerne GILBERT (dates unknown)

 

still living - details excluded

                                                 _______________________
                                                |                       
                        _Charles CORBIN ________|
                       | (1882 - ....) m 1908   |
                       |                        |_______________________
                       |                                                
 _Lionel Henry CORBIN _|
|                      |
|                      |                         _Stephen PARKER _______
|                      |                        | (1861 - 1890) m 1884  
|                      |_Bessie Mildred PARKER _|
|                        (1889 - 1920) m 1908   |
|                                               |_Emma Lillian BONNELL _+
|                                                 (1859 - 1934) m 1884  
|
|--LeRoy Henry CORBIN 
|  
|                                                _______________________
|                                               |                       
|                       ________________________|
|                      |                        |
|                      |                        |_______________________
|                      |                                                
|_LaVerne GILBERT _____|
                       |
                       |                         _______________________
                       |                        |                       
                       |________________________|
                                                |
                                                |_______________________
                                                                        

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