Lighter:

Well actually, Nerd, the seemingly nonsensical "Maggatee," as sung, could just as easily be understood as "Maggie D." by anybody along the chain. But that wouldn't change anything because there's no way of being sure that the names are accurate. One exception -and a crucial one - is "John Henry." This name is such a constant that even a few exceptions -which don't seem to exist - would not affect the very strong likelihood, if not quite the absolute certainty, that the original song, whatever the circumstances of its composition, included the name "John Henry," almost unquestionably as the hero.

That's one point we can all agree on.

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I dunno - I've also entertained the idea that the historic man's name was "John Dabney." I think it might take a millisecond or so of hearing someone sing "John Dabney" to replace it with "John Henry." There were some black John Dabneys in Copiah County, Mississippi, in the early 20th century, perhaps earlier. The fact that the Marbury family's recollection is of a steel driver named "John," not "John Henry," would be consistent with this. Spencer, however, called him "John Henry Dabner" and two others who gave testimony for Alabama also called him "John Henry." Incidentally, Henry "Dabney" is in the 1870 census. In 1880 he is Henry "Dabner" (same wife, birth year, etc.)