Peter,

The Tinsley information is what I was going to try to condense, but since you independently found it, you know at least as much as I do. That there are other tales of attribution to the lyrics besides N Howard Thorp's, all equally difficult if not impossible to substantiate. Given the different sets of lyrics that seem to be floating around, there could be some truth to all of the stories. A sheet music version of "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" was published in 1907 by William Jossey. It apparently had chunks of the traditional lyrics imbedded in a story about a cowboy names Albuquerque Joe. It also had a really different tune. One of my favorite comments was Tinsley's quote from "Teddy Blue" Abbot. There have been many Mudcat discussions about songs that have been overdone to the point that many people actually dislike them. "Bury me Not" apparently achieved that status over a century ago. "It was a saying on the range that even the horses nickered it and the coyotes howled it; it got so they'd throw you in the creek if you sang it. I first heard if along about '81 or '82 and by '85 it was prohibited."

Tinsley also discusses the orgins of several different "Ocean burial" poems written in the mid-1800's containing the "bury me not" theme. ONe written by Edwin Hubbell Chapin in 1839 contains many lines and phrases that ended up in the cowboy song.

rich r