All texts are fairly close, but the earliest I've found does not have Joe returning to Missouri,

Lyr. Add: JOE BOWERS
1858, J. E. Johnson

My name it is Joe Bowers, I've got a brother Ike,
I come from old Missouri, yes, all the way from Pike,
I'll tell you why I left thar, and how I came to roam,
And leave my poor old mammy, so far away from home.
2
I used to love a gal thar, they call'd her Sally Black,
I axed her for to marry me, she said it was a whack;
"But," says she to me, "Joe Bowers, before we hitch for life,
You'd orter have a little home to keep your little wife."
3
Says I, "My dearest Sally, oh! Sally, for your sake
I'll go to Californy, and try to raise a stake."
Says she to me, "Joe Bowers, oh, you're the chap to win,
Guv me a buss to seal the bargain," and she threw a dozen in!
4
I shall ne'er forget my feelins when I bid adieu to all,
Sally cotched me round the neck, then I began to bawl;
When I sot in, they all commenced- you ne'er did hear the like,
How they all took on and cried, the day I left old Pike.
5
When I got to this 'ere country, I hadn't nary red,
I had sich wolfish feelins I wish'd myself most dead;
But the thoughts of my dear Sally soon made these feelins git,
And whispered hopes to Bowers- Lord, I wish I had 'em yit!
6
At length I went to minin', put in my biggest licks,
Come down upon the boulders jist like a thousand bricks;
I worked both late and airly, in rain, in sun, and snow,
But I was working for my Sally, so 'twas all the same to Joe.
7
I made a lucky strike, as the gold itself did tell,
And saved it for my Sally, the gal I loved so well;
I saved it for my Sally, that I might pour it at her feet,
That she might kiss and hug me, and call me something sweet.
8
But one day I got a letter from my dear, kind brother Ike-
It came from old Missouri, and all the way from Pike;
It brought me the gol darn'dest news as ever you did hear-
My heart is almost bustin', so, pray, excuse this tear.
9
It said my Sal was fickle, that her love for me had fled,
That she'd married with a butcher, whose har was orful red!
It told me more than that- oh! it's enough to make one swar,
It said Sally had a baby, and the baby had red har!
10
Now, I've told you all I could tell about this sad affar,
'Bout Sally marryin' the butcher and the butcher had red har.
Whether 'twas a boy or gal child, the letter never said,
It only said its cussed har was inclined to be a red!

Text: Johnson, J. E., 1858, Johnson's Original Comic Songs. San Francisco, Presho & Appleton Co.
Music: "Joe Bowers," in J. T. Hughes, Doniphan's Expedition, ed. W. R. Connelley (Topeka, Kan.: Connelley, 1907).