Does anyone know anything about this song? Sharp collected it in the Appalachians but where are its roots? Is it based on a real river whose name has been corrupted to dundee or is it simply a made up melodrama?

If it did start out life as a pop song of its day has it become a folk song because an acedemic wrote it down and 120 years later someone reads it and starts to sing it even there was no tradition of anyone in their community singing this song?

I like the song because its one where the girl wins out by her actions( well at least she ends up better off than all the male players) and not just by waiting around for seven years. I know of it through the singing of Pete Morton who used to do good versions of a lot of old songs but seems to concentrate on his own stuff mostly these days.