Hi,

I've started writing the US versions headnotes here: http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/us--canada-versions-3-the-bramble-briar.aspx

Even tho it's a bit long I'm including it below. Comments and corrections welcome:

US & Canada Versions: 3. The Bramble Briar

[The Bramble Briar, the location where the servant is "killed and thrown," is known by a number of different names in the United States[1] but ironically only two versions[2] have "Bramble Brier" or "Bramble Briar" in them. Three have "Bamboo Briar(s)"[3] and there are several other variations- two have "Branberry" and one "Bomberry." Several have "Ditch" or "Ditch of Briars"[4] while many others simply call the burial place, "The Lonesome Valley[5]."

Many titles are fashioned after the location residence of the merchant, his sons, daughter and servant. This location usually appears as Bridgewater[6] and the longest and perhaps oldest complete version it titled, "The Bridgewater Merchant[7]." In the versions that have Bridgewater the ballad begins, "Near Bridgewater" or "At Bridgewater" which is very similar to the only early extant British version[8] which begin "Near Tunbridge Waters." It's easy to conjecture that Bridgewater may in fact be a derivative of Tunbridge Waters.

Cecil Sharp titled his Appalachian versions, "In Seaport Town" as seven of the seventeen versions he collected begin with that title while other of Sharp's versions begin: "In Maple City," "In Transport Town," "In Newport Town" or "In Boston Town." Later collected versions in the Appalachians begin similarly and titles include: "In the Seaport" or "In Zepo Town[9]."

Other versions named after the murdered servant titled "The Apprentice Boy" still have Bridgewater in the opening line: 'Twas near Bridgewater a rich man lived[10]. Another group of names use the opening line: "Two Lovers Set Sparking[11]" or "One Evening as I Sat Courting." The last group of names, recently collected, are titled, "The Jealous Brothers."

The ballad has been disseminated in two main areas: 1. New York/New Jersey and 2. The Virginia Colony. This ballad didn't come with the early settlers since it's origin is estimated to be the early to mid-1700s[12] but it was likely here by the late 1700s since it was found in the early 1800s[13] in NY and reached isolated regions in the Appalachians where it was later collected[14]. The New York/New Jersey versions are the closest to the missing broadside[15] and include one print version[16] that was arranged from oral circulation[17]. One traditional version was taken to Michigan from New Jersey[18], another to Ohio and another Indiana.The westward migration could include an Iowa to California version and the version from Utah. The Virginia Colony was well established in the 1600s. By the late 1700s the ballads were brought to remote Appalachian regions like Beech Mountain, NC (Hicks/Harmon lines), Madison County, NC (Shelton line/Sodom-Laurel singers) and Flag Pond, TN. In 1775 Daniel Boone began blazing The Wilderness Trail into Kentucky and middle Tennessee paving the way for the settlement of those areas. The Bramble Briar was known in Kentucky and Tennessee as well as the earlier settled states of North Carolina and Virginia. The westward southern migration includes Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The southern versions, in general, are sometimes missing: 1. the inheritance awarded to the daughter when her father dies; 2. the location is Bridgewater; 3. the revenant visitation, or it has changed to a dream visitation 4. the father is a merchant; 5. the bramble briars, or the briars, instead they have been replaced by a generic location such as The Lonesome Valley.

As pointed out by Belden[19] the versions are corrupt, due inherently to the lack of existing print versions. There are certain phrase identifiers which have remained consistent in enough versions that we can understand the missing broadside or ur-ballad. These phrases include "wallowed in a gore of blood;" "she found him killed and thrown" which rhymes with "unknown;" her brothers were both "rash and cruel" and lastly "dearest bosom friend of mine." These identifiers can help sort out and give meaning to the mangled texts from oral transmission.

Although the ballad is rare and does not appear in a number of collections[20] the number of US versions totals nearly sixty[21]. The ballad tradition in the US never died out completely and although the method of recreation has changed the ballad has been sung traditionally at least until the 1970s[21].

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Footnotes:

1. No versions of the ballad have yet been found in Canada.

2. The Bramble Brier- Goon (OH) pre1876 Eddy/ The Bramble Brier- (NY) Wehman's Songster 1890

3. Bamboo Briers- Hannah Ross (VA-WV) 1875 Cox A
    The Bamboo Brier- Harmon (TN-NC) pre1880 Henry
    Bamboo Briars- Minnie Doyel (MO) 1917 Barbour

4. A Ditch of Briers- Wheeler (VA) 1918 Sharp H
    The Ditch of Briars- Yorks (NC) 1940 Brown C
    Bridgewater Merchant- Stevens (NY) 1820 Thompson ("In a dry ditch")

5. This title is possibly derived from this text:
          5. They traveled over hills and mountains;
               Through lonesome valleys they did go,
    [The Bamboo Briars- Hopkins (IN) 1935 Brewster]

6. Bridgewater Merchant- Stevens (NY) 1820 Thompson
   Apprentice Boy- Lambertson (OH-MI) 1850s Gardner ('Twas near Bridgewater)
   Bamboo Briers- Hannah Ross (VA-WV) 1875 Cox A (Across Bridgewater )
   Near Bridgewater- Eliza Pace (KY) 1917 Sharp E
   The Bridgewater- Graham (CA-IO) 1938 Cowell REC

7. "The Bridgewater Merchant," from New York MS taken from a great-aunt of Douglas; dated circa 1820, part of Douglass/Stevens MS from A Pioneer Songster- Thompson, 1958.

8. "Near Turnbridge Waters" found in Chapter 18 in Tales About Christmas by Peter Parley (Samuel Griswold Goodrich) London 1838.

9. In Zepo Town" sung by Lisha Shelton of Madison County, NC; 1963.

10. "The Apprentice Boy" from Ohio/Michigan taken MS book (c. 1852) of Mrs. Elsie Clark Lambertson.

11. "Two Lovers Set Sparking" by Fred High (AR) 1951; learned much earlier. "Sparking" is another word for "Courting."

12. "The Bridgewater Merchant" by Steve Gardham; Dungheap No. 21: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/dung21.htm

Richie