Manuscript Group 198, Matthias Winans (1739-1782), Innkeeper Account book, 1774-1780
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Manuscript Group 198, Matthias Winans (1739-1782), Innkeeper
Account book, 1774-1780, 0.2 linear feet / 1 volume
Call Number: MG 198
Account book kept by Matthias Winans (1739-1782), proprietor of an inn in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Gift of Charles M. Lum, 1910.
Matthias Winans (b. 1739), a son of Isaac Winans (1710-1780) and Margaret (d. 1741), was an innkeeper in Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth), New Jersey. He married Rachel Morse (d. 1797) with whom he had the following children: Matthias (1761-1777), Isaac Ross (1763-1827/31), Mary (1764-1829), and Abigail (fl. 1780). Winans died in Elizabethtown in 1782.
Sources:
Abstract of Wills Vol. 6: 1781-1785. New Jersey Archives: First Series Vol. 35: pg. 449.
Woolley, Alice W.E. Winans Family Geneology. 1987.
The volume was a 1910 gift of Charles M. Lum.
The records consist of an account book dating from 1774-1780 kept by Matthias Winans detailing business transactions at his inn. Each account is labeled with the name of an individual and then notes date, drink or food purchased, and price. Patrons generally purchased such comestibles as brandy, gin, grog, mutton, fish, and dinner. Many of the accounts do not give the details of each transaction, referring instead to a ledger, “blue covered book,” or daybook. For patrons who stayed at Mr. Winan’s establishment, accounts list length of lodging and related services such as hay or feed for the customer’s horse. The account book is indexed and the last page has a “Memorandum of Boarders” which lists prominent lodgers, primarily military officers, who stayed at the inn. Interleaved in the book is an April 25, 1796 inventory of goods to be auctioned belonging to Daniel Kilsey of Rahway
See other inn/tavern records and other innkeeper’s/tavern keeper’s records/papers.
Processed by Jeff McMillan, August 2000 as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.
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