Wow! What amazing information and great references! Thank you to everyone who contributed. This song has a long tradition and history. I hope there is some way to preserve this information for the coming ages. If it is this hard to trace the information today, then in the next 50 years it will be impossible.

And I remember singing it in the 5th grade too! As well as the movie with James Stewart. Today - I heard it played on a PBS broadcast - Celtic Woman. It was a beautiful rendition played on a violin. But I couldn't remember the words... thanks to everyone who helped restore my memory and more!