Even though there are songs where the authorship is unclear there are many sung today under the heading "traditional" that are the compositions of 19th Century song writers. "Rose of Allendale","Wildwood Flower", "Hard Times", "Little Rosewood Casket", "Darlin' Nellie Gray", "Gentle Annie", "Dream of the Miner's Child", "The Water Lily" and "Three Score and Ten" to name just a few. The sheet music for these songs and hundreds of others are dated and can be found in collections quite easily. As far as I've heard they are the same songs. No question. They were written for all of us to sing, certainly, but if I didn't write it - it's not MY song.