As told by Mary A. Crawford to her son Bill 12/ 26, 2006:

"I'm past 82 years old and I learned this song when I was just past 11 years old. My cousin Cleo Grose taught it to me. She was the daughter of Ruth Johnson Grose Pierson. Her father was Andrew Johnson. My Grandmother, Minerva Johnson, was Andrew's sister. She married Thomas Camden Drennen – my Grandfather. My father was Thomas Jackson Drennen. My mother's maiden Name was Elizabeth Alice Underwood. My name is Mary Agnes Drennen Crawford."

Falling Leaves

Far out on the lonely prairie,
Where the noble forests rise,
Lived the sweetest little maiden
Ever seen by mortal eyes.

She whose smiles were like the sunbeams
Daughter of an honored chief,
Came to gladden their home in Autumn,
And they called her Falling Leaves.

From the depths of tangled forest,
He alone one summer day,
Came a hunter worn and weary,
Who into their camp did stray.

Weeks passed by and still he lingered
Falling Leaves there by his side,
Told with smiles of love and promised
That she'd be his woodland bride.

One bright day this hunter wandered
O'er the prairie all alone,
All in vain she watched and waited,
But his fate was never known.

Like the summer flowers she faded,
Like the Autumn leaves she died,
They closed her eyes in deathly slumber
By the dreaming river tide.

(Chorus)
Far above the stars in heaven
Lives a maid in pure delight
And out from that lonely wigwam
There's a wail of woe each night.

(We really appreciate your website and the various postings).