There's an interesting entry on this song in the Traditional Ballad Index:

There Was an Old Miser


DESCRIPTION: The old miser's daughter is courted by a sailor. When the miser finds out, he pays a captain to impress the boy. The girl fails to save the boy, but his ship is wrecked and he escapes to shore almost alone. He finds the girl; they are married.

AUTHOR: unknown

EARLIEST DATE: before 1854 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(16))

KEYWORDS: courting sailor father pressgang wreck escape marriage

FOUND IN: US(MA) Britain(England(Lond))

REFERENCES (1 citation):

FSCatskills 48, "There Was an Old Miser" (1 text, 1 tune)

ST FSC048 (Partial)

Roud #3913

RECORDINGS:

Chris Willett, "The Old Miser" (on Voice04)

BROADSIDES:

Bodleian, 2806 c.16(16), "Old Miser" ("It's of an old miser in London did dwell"), Swindells (Manchester), 1796-1853; also Johnson Ballads 572, "The Old Miser"

CROSS-REFERENCES:

cf. "Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser)" [Laws N6]

Notes: Although this song shows many similarities to Laws N6 (plus a slight similarity to "William and Harriet," Laws M7), Cazden et al consider the ending sufficiently different that they regard it as a separate ballad. Since the policy of this index is to split rather than lump, here it stands.

Roud, interestingly, lumps it with Laws N10, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter." - RBW

Chris Willett's version on Voice04 and Bodleian broadsides 2806 c.16(16) and Johnson Ballads 572 include the verses in the [Supplemental Tradition text, from Cazden et al] but omit the ending: no shipwreck or happy ending. - BS

File: FSC048

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2007 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.