Mick, thanks for the tune for Lena Bourne Fish's version. I don't know how to do that kind of stuff. And thanks, Betty and Brian for the information on the Scots-Irish migrations. I hadn't realized that they were up in the Northeast as well as down here (I'm in Central Virginia) in the southern Appalachians. I'll take a look at the Wikipedia article. Also, our senator from VA, Jim Webb, wrote a pretty good book on the Scots-Irish called BORN FIGHTING - HOW THE SCOTS IRISH SHAPED AMERICA (2004).

Brian, I used to live not all that far from "the banks of the Tennessee" River, but it is pretty far inland. Does this phrase show up in some other songs? I haven't had time to check this, but it sounded familiar. It's curious how this might have gotten attached to this ballad. It sounds good and the banks of the Tennessee are lovely if you like TVA lakes!

Betty, your mention of the frontiers of Montreal raises the question of the relationship of the New England versions of this ballad to those further north in the Maritimes and the rest of eastern Canada. My wife's family was from Maine but I don't know much at all about the northeast, and what influenced what. Perhaps it is somewhat arbitrary to draw too clear a line between the U.S. and Canada with regard to these ballads.