Lost Rights . . . A Little More

 North Carolina's Copy of the 

United States Bill of Rights

It came to my attention that I needed to 'come clean' about something regarding Lost Rights: The Misadventures of a Stolen American Relic.
  
Why did I include a book review about history which does not take place in Troy, Ohio?  Let me explain . . .


About three years  ago a gentleman I know returned from a visit to Washington, D.C. where his daughter lives.  The Washington Post regularly includes Civil War stories in their publication and Bob's daughter saves them for him to read.  When he returned from this trip he brought one of the stories to me because it mentioned Tipp City and Troy, both of which are in Miami County, Ohio.

The story turned out to be a brief page summary of the North Carolina Bill of Rights adventure, which David Howard details in his book.  So, that was my first exposure to the story.

It was not too long after this I was contacted by David Howard.  He wanted to come to Troy and do some research for his book.  "Are you familiar with the story of North Carolina's stolen Bill of Rights," he asked me.  "Actually, I am familiar with the tale, I responded.  "You are?"  Apparently, David had found many people who had not heard of the document's travels.  So, I was able to assist David in a small way to research some of  the local families and properties which were involved in his compiling of the local facts.

The second reason why I wanted to share the book with my readers is, as mentioned above, Troy was involved in the history of the broadside.  I will not share all the details, but only to mention that Charles Shotwell, "the patriarch" of the family which had the document in its possession for so long, lived in Troy for awhile.

Thank you Bob for bringing the story to my attention and helping me be prepared to assist David.  And, thanks for the fun David.

So, with this addendum to the book review, now you know why I included Lost Rights in my Troy History blog.