This post was put on the Facebook announcement page, then deleted by the author, but I captured enough of it to start this thread.

From Eric M. Bram, who posted:

My research indicates that "Red River Valley" originated in Manitoba following the Métis Indian rebellions of the mid-19th century. In the song, a local woman (probably of a Native American tribe) sings to her soldier lover who will soon be returning from his deployment to his "home by the ocean."

The river in question would be the Red River (sometimes called the Red River of the North), which runs from the border between North Dakota and Minnesota northward through Manitoba and empties into Lake Winnipeg.

I have a copy of what I believe is the oldest known manuscript, written in pencil, of the lyrics of the song. I obtained the manuscript from the archives of the State University of Iowa where I found it a collection of the papers of a folksong collector of the late 19th and early 20th century. The manuscript indicated that the lyrics were gathered in Nemaha County and Harlan County (Nebraska) in 1879 and 1885, respectively.

I grabbed a copy of the image that he shared, and can save it to Facebook later (ironic - we post images there but not content). I hope he will come to the Mudcat site and discuss his research - it is important and interesting.

SRS