#charles boyd

Ooh very excited, mysterious news for my Imperial friends.

I’m apparently late to the party because Charles Boyd went on to explain KotFE in a forum post and honestly many of his points made me all:

I want you all to know I did not do this crime. I wanted to wait for a thirty day stay for a DNA test so you know who did the crime.

Charles Boyd dug the first dry well and built the first brick chimney in Springfield. [...] During his residence in Springfield he kept a merchant tailor shop, in connection with a general merchandise store. His business partner was William Stephen Hamilton, who was a bachelor and made his home with the Boyds. He was the son of statesman Alexander Hamilton. William Hamilton had in his possession the silver-mounted pistols which his father used in his fatal duel with Aaron Burr in Weehawken, N.J. He apparently inherited them, and brought them to Illinois in the early 1820's. William later left these pistols, as well as a fine library, in the care of Charles for safekeeping. The pistols were heavily mounted with silver, so their value in precious metal alone was considerable, not to mention their historic value. When Charles later moved to Boyd's Grove, he took the pistols and library with him. Four children were born to the Boyds in Springfield, one a daughter called Angelica Hamilton Boyd, named by William Hamilton for his sister. [...] On January 18, 1831, between the hours of 12 midnight and 1:00 A.M., the Boyd's dwelling burned down, consuming nearly all its contents and leaving the family destitute. (The Hamilton library was destroyed in the fire, and the Hamilton pistols were melted. The silver that remained from them was later found among the ashes. Charles had this chunk, along with the a nugget of melted silver coins, sent to Springfield and made into spoons by E. S. Phelps, a jeweler. He later gave them to his daughter Angelica, who loved to entertain her guests with the story of how Alexander Hamilton's dueling pistols came to grace her dinner table. They are currently on display in the museum of the Bureau County Historical Society.)