If this helps any, the song is included in "The Greatest of All Irish Songs", Mills Music, Inc, NY, NY, ©1932. It does give Thomas P. Westendorf as the composer and author, but I think it was intended for the American "market" of sentimental Irish songs. Alot of non-Irish composers and writers wrote songs and lyrics for that popular market. For example, another song in the book is "Tears of The Shannon", words by Giselle Eichert and N.T. Granlund, and music by F.Henri Klickmann.
I always thought of it as a "commercial" American song written about returning to Ireland. alice