I think this is a really interesting line of research, although sometimes the information just isn't there. Family transmission is one of the key ways traditions, including songs, are passed on. It would be wonderful to trace the routes and roots of how songs came to be found where the collectors gathered them; I've traced the song 'Long Lankin', sung by an Anglican nun, Sister Emma, to Cecil Sharp at her convent in Berkshire in 1909 back to her great-grandmother who had learned it in Northumberland from the family nurse in the 1750s.

But as I was writing about Bessie Jones of the Georgia Sea Islands on another thread I noticed that some of the songs of those islands in the Gullah dialect can be traced back to their African origins around Sierra Leone.

So thanks to Richie for raising this topic.

Matthew