The first recording, by the Carolina Sunshine Trio, was recorded between 1947 and 1950 (but I'm going to guess 1947 as there seems to be at least some people who believe that that's the original recording), and the second one was released in October of 1948 as a B-side to "Little Rock A-R-K" (SOURCE 1, SOURCE 2)
The Carolina Chocolate Drops credit it as "traditional," but that is wrong. According to SOURCE 2 above it's written by Don Whiston (not the hockey player, I'm assuming), who also wrote some songs for Merle Travis and Eddy Arnold.