I am appreciating all of this good response and I'm seeing that the "Scots (Scotch)/Irish" business is complicated. Let me back up a bit. My primary interest is trying to establish whether or not there is any documentation for any of the so-called "Child" ballads in America in the 1700s. A secondary question would be "can they be documented prior to the American Revolution in America?" Or did they come after the Revolution was over? Can we document them prior to the 19th century?

I've been looking at one particular geographical area known for its ballad singers, documented by George Foss, and located along the eastern face of the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Charlottesville in Viriginia. Here is the link:

http://www.klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/whall.html?

This is called "From White Hall to Bacon Hollow" and is a fascinating account of these folks, much of it in their own words. There is some genealogy material here in relation to ballad singing, but none of it really goes back before the 19th century.

John Moulden, I'd be very interested to know what kind of conclusions you were able to make in your research on "the Scotch Irish, and the songs they might have carried and deposited in the Southern Mountains".