The earliest date given at The Traditional Ballad Index: The Tune The Old Cow Died On is "1927 (Randolph)", but according to this sheet music (Boston: Perry & Co., John F., 1880) at American Memory it was first composed by "Eastburn" (pseudonym for Joseph Eastburn Winner, composer of "Little Brown Jug," and a younger brother of Septimus Winner). Sidney Robertson Cowell recorded two versions in 1939, which are at California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties.