Clarence (Cal) Harlan recorded the song with the tune that Kelley, Gene Harlan, Virgie Harlan and he wrote fifty years earlier; and aside from being in major and triple time, with straight-forward phrasing, it bears no "recognizable" similarity to the famous tune. I'm unaware of any tune for this song being written down prior to the Goodwins (1905) and Lomax (collected in 1908)--even Kelley didn't notate his; it's only known from Cal's recording. So the famous tune can only be dated with any confidence to about the turn of the century. We have no clue what tunes were used for the song in the thirty intervening years. (BTW, has anyone seen the Goodwins sheet music or a transcription of their tune?)

Did you read the appelation "Blind Clarence Harlan" in White's book? Because no other accounts call him that. They just mention his blindness by the time of the recording to infer that he hadn't referred to some written record of the lyrics, making the close correspondence to Higley's poem seem the more convincing.

Genie was only repeating information from Robert Fulgham. Not only did Fulgham err on the dates by twenty years, he seemed to be stating that Higley was newly wed when he wrote the song. In fact, he was still married to his fourth wife, whom he had deserted just that year in Indiana. She finally divorced him (in absentia) in 1875. Higley remarried in 1876, five years after he wrote the poem.