Theodore Roosevelt's historic pocket watch returned decades after theft
OYSTER BAY, Long Island (WABC) -- An heirloom belonging to President Theodore Roosevelt that was missing for 37 years has finally been returned.
National Park officials on Thursday displayed a 126-year-old silver pocket watch owned by the 26th president at a ceremony on Long Island.
The engraved watch was given to Roosevelt by his sister in 1898 and was stolen in July 1987 from a federal museum in Buffalo.
It had been missing ever since -- until a Florida auction house owner said he was given the watch to sell early last year.
Roosevelt's great-grandson was on hand for the ceremony and said the watch was given to Roosevelt before he charged up San Juan Hill and through his adventures to Africa and down the Amazon River.
"It was amazing and it was with him pretty much for all his life, wouldn't you have loved to have been able to hear what this watch heard in the White House and in the privacy of the executive office?" Tweed Roosevelt said.
Roosevelt served as president from 1901 to 1909 before he died in his sleep in 1919 inside his North Shore Long Island home.
The watch will be displayed at the Roosevelt family home at Sagamore Hill starting Thursday.
"It is an honor to have a role in preserving American history for current and future generations to learn from," National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said.
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