Without creeping this thread, which I really appreciate and which is talking about things which I know very little about, I just wanted to say that I am always interested in documentation about if, when and how any of these songs reached America early on. I am especially interested in those 1780 to 1840 songs. From what i have been able to discover so far, there seems to be very little documentation for any of them prior to the middle of the 19th century, on this side of the Atlantic, other than the "songsters". I would love to be told I'm wrong about this and to be steered in the proper directions. Thanks and I hope this thread has a long life.