Steve,

Since we don't have the name of the mermaid- it would be impossible to trace her :) There is a chance that real people's names can be used in a fantasy and possibly something could be uncovered related to the these names. You never know :)

"George Collins" as sung by Miss Lisbeth Hayes, Fayetteville, Ark., June 12, 1920 has this 'marble stone' stanza:

George Collins rode our the very next night,
He rode out all alone,
An' the first thing he saw when he got there
Was fair Eleanor washin' a white marble stone.

[From Randolph, Ozark Folksong, I, 1946, p. 139.]

Richie