Membership

Requirements

Membership is available to those persons, either male or female, who can prove direct descent from an individual who conducted a tavern, inn, ordinary, or other type of hostelry prior to 31 December 1783 (within any of the American Colonies that existed at that time).

The dates shown below correspond to the first settlements known to exist in their respective colonies. The first known colonial tavern was established in the year 1633/4 in Boston.

There is no age restriction for members. Feel free to enroll your children and grandchildren!

In colonial times, taverns, inns, ordinaries, pubs (or public houses), and other hostelries were usually kept in a person’s home and no other building usually existed for this purpose. Therefore, the majority of these businesses as we think of them in that time probably did not have names or were known only the the operator’s name. In smaller communities, “named” taverns probably was not the rule. In larger ones, however, often these businesses had names to distinguish them.

The key to establishing membership is proving that your ancestor was licensed by the local authority (usually the Colonial Court) to conduct the business of keeping taverns, inns, ordinaries, pubs, and other hostelries, or to sell spirituous liquors. The name of the establishment is not necessary. Brewers and distillers do not qualify unless they were also licensed taverners or innkeepers. When searching for a license, do not think in terms of licensing in modern times. A license will usually only amount to the granting of permission with a statement in the colonial court records.

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Application and Instructions

You must complete our application form, providing your lineage to a verifiable qualifying ancestor. A copy of the documentation for each fact must be included. “Copy” means either a certified copy of a record or a photocopy of the original.  DO NOT send original documents.

There is a life membership fee of $200 which includes a nonrefundable examiner’s fee, our membership insigne, and a handsome membership certificate. There are no annual dues. After your membership  is established, we welcome supplementary applications to other qualified ancestors. The current fee for a supplemental submission is $50, which also includes a certificate. See our application instructions for proper payment procedure. Our downloadable application and instructions are immediately below.

The INSTRUCTIONS have been written to answer nearly every conceivable question a prospective member may have about procedures, exceptions, source requirements, fees, and the like. Please download the document and review the instructions before emailing. In the event you still have questions, after reviewing the instructions, contact the Keeper of the Tavern Records (our Registrar), who will be assisting you in establishing your membership. His email address is found in the Instructions.

 

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Insigne and Certificate

The current membership insigne and certificate are shown below. A “supplemental cluster” pin is available separately, once supplementary applications have been approved.

In the event you joined the Society prior to March 31, 2017, you may have paid the former membership fees, in which case you may not have received a membership insigne.  In this event, an order form is available by clicking on the hyperlink below to facilitate that purpose.

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Form for Change of Contact Information

Below is a downloadable form for changing your contact information in order to update our membership database. As a member, you will want to keep your contact information current, as we will periodicall communicate with our members by email and/or postal mail. Without these items, we cannot do so. This form may also be used to report a member has deceased.