This is a fairly comprehensive look at drinking establishments from before the Revolution through Prohibition and up to the more recent past. The author had a little fun with the book and chapter titles. The chapters track the bar’s evolution: from A Pilgrim Walks into a Bar, to A Crusader Walks into a Bar, and finally, Change Strolls into the Bar. I had not realized how much both the the types and reputations of drinking establishments changed over time, but even what they were called changed to reflect both their status and societal functions.
I had never really thought about the impact of drinking establishments on the course of American history. But the early inns, which doubled as a bar, were places where people would get together to discuss current events, and plan things like say, dumping tea into a harbor. In many places, they doubled as meeting houses or courthouses. A newcomer could find new friends, tips on job openings, or maybe even a loan. Later, bars were where men could go to vote, and have that vote influenced by who was buying him drinks. Eventually, the saloon became synonymous with “problem drinking”; men spending most of their paychecks, and suffering from alcoholism. This is the image that the Anti-Saloon League used helped push Prohibition through.
The status of the owner of the bar changed along with the view of the establishment itself. Early on, they were seen as pillars of society. Some even held elective or appointed offices. But when the bar was seen as a place of ill-repute, or a place where undesirables were meeting, the reputation of the barkeep declined as well. At an early point, there were at least a couple of bartenders who were known as being talented at what we would now call mixology, and they even wrote a book or two about their field.
If this was your family, how would you research them? In more recent censuses, you might find an ancestor’s occupation in the hospitality field. Before that, you could look at directories, and possibly land purchases. If there are licensing records for the locality where your ancestor lived, those would be a great place to check. And if you find an ancestor who owned a tavern, inn, or ordinary before 1776, you might be eligible to join The Flagon and Trencher, ( https://flagonandtrencher.org/ ) a lineage society dedicated to Colonial tavern keepers.