Finally, a most satisfying day for Henry Brother, the father of Civil War Marine, Charles Brother, when in May 6, 1836, he met with friends at the Eagle tavern. Today was a fine toast the ruling by his friends in Albany for the incorporation of Bath. It was a Friday and he, for once, had nothing to do on the following Saturday, for it looked like rain, and it looked as if another round was regularly and completely called for.
Dr. Gansevoort’s father Conrad was a big help in Albany, as was his own medical expertise in Bath, so it was with obedience that the men cut off the alcohol after the fourth round, even as the young surgeon stumbled a bit himself, who called out with a raised glass,
“Steady, good fellows, for I might have to deliver the birth of a baby and the birth of a village on the same night!!”
As Henry carefully pulled off his muddy boots at the back door, his wet hair provided an inconvenient damper to his candle. He started again to sing a ditty he had learned from Capt. Smead from the old 1812 fight:
Some soldiers are freezing,
Some coughing, some sneezing,
Some laugh and cry out with a sneer,
He never will come,
for No one hates a drum more,
Than glorious, great, granny Born-dear.
He turned around he bumped into Mary Ann, holding a candle. “Oh! There you are love. It is official! We are INCORPORATED!”
“Hush! I’ll show you official and incorporated, in corporal is more like it….”