Tom Sawyer is known to generations as one of the most beloved characters in American literature, but new research into the man that inspired the fictional child shows that his real life counterpart was a hard-drinking fire fighter-turned-barkeep.

Author Mark Twain was thought to have based his adventurous Southern child character on his acquaintance named Tom Sawyer, and the writer's admiration for his fire-fighting friend was so strong that he gave the character the man's name in homage.

A lengthy article published by The Smithsonian details the relationship between Twain, whose real name was Samuel Clemens, and Sawyer who met in a bath house in San Francisco during the mid 19th century....