Helen creighten's recording notes are available now, that should tell when and where she recorded it, I say recorded, she used to write down the lyrics and tune back then.

phill Thomas, the british Columbia collector used to say it was based on the earlier song little mohee, from new England.

Creighton used to say it was about a wayward nova scotia sailor, trapped in louisianna with no local money, probably during the civil war.

the peter emberly I have heard has a different melody. although they scan closely so you could switch them. lily of the west is often switched with lakes of ponchatrain. and vice versa.

(pontchartrain was a senior bureaucrat in the French ministry of the marine--responsible for colonies. he had a son who started a farming settlement in acadia and did some trading in louisianna,btw)

ian mackay's book:"quest of the folk" debunks a lot of Helen creightons bigotry and tendency to make it up when she wasn't getting what she wanted. she was middle class Halifax and the people she was collecting from were beneath her.   she treated them and her music quite badly. often she censored the rebellious and lewd. luckily she had no French nor gaelic so her collections from those sources were not tainted by her middle class bigotry.

but then most mudcatters are more like her than like folk collectors with ethics and respect for traditional cultures. so she's a fav here.