The Heylin material brought to my attention a version of "The House Carpenter" in the Flanders collection that I had overlooked. It was collected July 13, 1932 from Mrs. Ellen M. Sullivan of Springfield, Vermont, and was entitled "The Banks of Claudy." It is significantly different from all of the other versions collected by Flanders. Mrs. Sullivan gave two different accounts of her ballad. They are as follows, taken directly from ANCIENT BALLADS, by Helen Hartness Flanders. I think that the phrases in parentheses were spoken by Mrs Sullivan, and the phrases in brackets is commentary by Flanders.

The Banks of Claudy

'Twas on the banks of Claudy

(Girl promises to marry a man who goes away, dies and as a ghost returns and says)

"Oh, come with me to the banks fo Claudy,
And perform those promises to me."

(Later in the song:)

When she came to the banks of Claudy,
Oh, sorry sore was she,
There was seven ships sailing to the brim.
They sunk to the bottom and was never seen no more.

When she came to the banks of Claudy,
Oh, sorry sore was she, she,
For the ships they were made of the yellow beaten gold
And the sails were of silk so fine.

[Mrs. Sullivan remembered August 23, 1932, more of "On the Banks fo Cludy," which she called "George Allis."]

(She lay asleep and his ghost came to her.)

"Oh, begone, begone, young George Allis,
For I am a married wife,
Oh, begone, young George," she said,
"For fear there may be strife."

"That is not the promise you gave to me
To come in seven long years and a ay,
So now come on to the salty seas
And perform your promises to me."

[Another time later, Mrs. Sullivan "broke out" with:]

"Oh, begone, begone, young George Allis,
For I am a married wife;
Oh, begone, young George," she said,
"For fear there may be strife, strife,
For fear there may be strife."

"Oh, that is not the promise you made to me
To come again in seven long years and a day
So now come on to the salty sea
And perform your promise to me, to me,
And perform your promise to me."

(She got up and dressed herself.)

When she came to the banks of Claudy
Oh, sorry, sore was she, she,
For there was seen ships floating to the brim
Which was never seen no more, more,
Which was never seen no more.

Then they sailed away for seven leagues;
then they sailed away for seven leagues.
She sank to the bottom of the sea, sea;
She sank to the bottom of the sea
And never was seen again.

[Mrs. Sullivan commented: "He was dead and came back as a ghost after seven years because of the oath that was between them."
---
Second Version

[As sung by Mrs. Ellen M. Sullivan of Springfield, Vermont. Mrs. Sullivan says this tells of a man who was dead who came back as a ghost after seven years, because of the oath that was between him and the girl.]

"O begone, begone, young George Allis,"
For I am a married wife;
O, begone, young George, " she said,
"For fear there may be strife."

"that is not the promise you made to me
To come in seven long years and a day,
So now come on to the salty sea
And perform your promises to me."

When she came to the salty seas,
O sorry sore was she,
There were seven ships floating (sailing) to the brim,
they were sunk to the bottom and was never seen again.

When she came t the banks of Claudy
O sorry sore as she,
Fr the ships they were made of the yellow beaten gold
And the sails of the silk so fine.

Then they sailed away for seven leagues

She sank to the bottom of the sea, sea,
And never was seen again.

[Another time Mrs. Sullivan changed the verses slightly:}

"O, that is not the promise you gave to me
To be gone for a year and a day,
To come again in seven long years and a day;
So now come on to the salty sea
And perform your promises to me, to me."

When she came to the banks of Claudy
For the ship was made of the yellow beaten gold
And the sails were of silk so fine, fine,
And the sails were of silk so fine,

(He was dead and came back as a ghost. She was asleep; she dreamt he came back. She begged to go back to her husband and baby.)

And she sank to the bottom of the sea, sea,
And she sank to the bottom of the sea
And was never seen again,
There was seven ships a-floated to the brim.
They sank to the bottom and were never seen no more.

Heylin says:

"The importance of the "former vows" to the original tale of 'The Dæmon Lover' cannot be underestimated. ...
Though these "former vows" are rarely encountered in American tradition, another Stateside text, collected in Eastern Tennessee by Charles Morrow Wilson, reveals the subtext of these vows that irked the dæmon lover so:

Well met, well met, my own true love,
Well met, well met, said he.
Now that the span of years is done
I'm returnin' to marry thee.

Have you wedded any other man?
I'm shore I've wed no other woman.
Yes, I'm wedded to a house carpenter,
And I think he's a very nice man.

You better leave your house carpenter
And come along with me;
We'll go till we come to the old salt sea,
And married we will be.2

So these vows were almost certainly secret vows of marriage, exchanged by two lovers before the male partner took to sea....

Just one other American version preserves these "former vows." ...the rendition in question, uncovered in Springfield, Vermont, not only survived uncontaminated by De Marsan and his various proxys but by any derivative from Diverting Songs. The female repository, one Ellen M. Sullivan, first recollected the song to collector Helen Hartness Flanders on July 13, 1932. All that she remembered was that a, "girl promises to marry a man who goes away, dies and as a ghost returns and says,"

Oh come with me to the banks of Claudy,
And perform those promises to me, me.
...
Mrs. Sullivan also commented to Flanders that, "He was dead and came back as a ghost after seven years because of the oath that was between them,"9 making explicit the revenant nature of the dæmon lover and recognizing the 'broken vows' as the song's key motif. This sort of explication is not repeated in American tradition until Mr. Dylan's highly unusual rendition, which also 'reveals' the revenant nature of the 'man' at the outset (though not the "former vows")....

Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of the Sullivan text, though, is that she has a name for the revenant, George Allis, seemingly a simple phonetic corruption of the only name ever assigned to the mysterious ex-lover, James Harris (or as Peter Buchan would have it, James Herries). Though it was under this title that the song came to be assigned in Child's English & Scottish Popular Ballads, only Buchan called the song by this name."