The trouble with songs that are discussed over multiple threads is that few people bother to read the other ones, so the same questions and answers tend to be repeated and the same ground covered over and over again; not least when an old discussion like this one is revived after six years of merciful oblivion by somebody with nothing new to say. Such people tend to resurrect the least informative thread available, of course.

There is more information about Davy himself in other threads (see links above) including the fact that Fritz Spiegl reckoned to have seen a photograph of him. See Matthew Edwards' post in Lyr Req: Whiskey on a Sunday.