This song is listed as a traditional song in the lyric's pages. It was in fact, written and published by a Booby Newcomb from Cincinnati.

History: "composed in 1877 by Bobby Newcomb of Cincinnati who published it in sheet music as a "Song with Waltz Chorus." It appeared in a late 19th century "Irish Songster" published in the United States. By the middle years of the twentieth century it was in oral tradition in Newfoundland. It was particularly popular in the St. Mary's Bay area. In the 1970s a hit recording of it by Branch native Eddie Coffey gave it even more popularity" (Rosenberg in West 1: 56).

http://collections.ic.gc.ca/leach/songs/NFLD1/1A-3.htm