So, the guy's sick of farming, so he wants to move to Wisconsin and ... buy a farm??

GUEST, Kim ... : I've seen that kind of thing a couple of times before; it seemed to be a natural thing to do when you'd written out the lyrics of a song in the 1800s, and it just meant that you'd written them out. However, it could mean more, and there is a grey area as well: was the writer claiming to have originated the song, and had they? Had they added to or re-worked an existing song? Sometimes it's easy to find the answers; sometimes it's impossible. The 'Traditional Ballad Index' above cites "a possible English source from 1734" .... It's wonderful to have that letter, though!