A version of this, without the reference to the wig and snuff has been sung to children in our family for generations. We have no idea how old it is. My dad sang it to me when I was a kid (I'm now 60 years old). I understood that he got it from his father who received it from previous generations. How far back it goes, I don't know. Our first grandchild was just born and I plan to pass this down to the next generation.