I've just gotten around to looking at this thread. Taconicus: brilliant work!

Gratuitous opinion on a trivial point: I doubt that "Maud Irving" was ever a binomial given name like "Mary Ann" or "Peggy Sue." I've read more pages of 19th C. books and newspapers than I'd like to recall, and I don't believe I've ever seen the surname "Irving" (as in "Washington Irving") - or any other surname - used as the second element of a feminine given name.

But more important is the fact that until now, the assertion that the song was printed in 1860 was hardly more than a rumor. It's also interesting to see the original melody.