To answer my own question I did some research on the Sam Hinton website.

Hinton was born c. 1917, so it is barely possible he could have learned, in childhood, a version of "Tell Ol' Bill" prior to Sandburg's 1927 (but collected earlier: 1922?) song.

Hinton recorded "Tell Old Bill" on "Singing Across the Land," Decca, 1956, and later on "From An East Texas Childhood," a privately released cassette.

The only current release that has it is the 2-CD Bear Family reissue of his 1947 Library of Congress Recordings. However, CD copies seem to be available from his website.

It would be interesting to see Hinton's lyrics, hear his tune, and see what his notes, if any, say about the song's origins, if he says anything more apart from his getting it from a black farmer in Walker County, Texas.

BTW note new thread concerning "Bill" and "How Many Biscuits" and the rest of the "This Mornin' This Evenin'" family:

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=95164&messages=4

To repeat: can anyone contribute his lyrics?

Bob