This has been nagging at me for several months. I found the version that Mick Hanley used in the Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English Speaking World, which was in my library all along...The words as they appear in the book are:
JACK HAGGERTY


I'm a heartbroken raftsman,
From Greenville I came;
All my virtue's departed
With the lass I did fain.
From the strong darts of Cupid
I've suffered much grief;
My heart's broke asunder,
I can ne'er get relief.

Of my trouble I'll tell you
Without much delay;
Of a sweet little lassie
My heart stole away.
She was a blacksmith's daughter
On the Flat River Side,
And I always intended
To make her my bride.

By occupation I was a raftsman
Where the white waters roll
My name I've engraved
On the high rocks and shoal.
I am the boy that stands happy
On the dark purling stream;
My thoughts were on Molly,
She haunted my dream.

I gave her fine jewels,
And the finest of lace;
The costliest muslins
Her form embraced.
I gave her my wages
All for to keep safe,
I deprived her of nothing
I had on this earth.

I worked on the river
Till I earned quite a stake,
Was steadfast, steady,
And ne'er played the rake.
O'er the camp, flat and river
I am very well known.
They call me Jack Haggerty
The pride of the town.

Till one day on the river
A letter I received.
She said from her promise
Herself she'd relieve.
To wed with another
She'd a long time delayed,
And the next time I'd see her
She'd never more be a maid.

To her mother,Jane Tucker,
I laid all the blame;
She caused her to leave me
And go back on my name,
To cast off the riggings
That God would tie,
And leave me a wanderer
Til the day that I die.

Now good-bye to Flat River
For me there is no rest.
I'll shoulder my peavy
And go further West;
I'll go to Muskegon
Some comforts to find,
And leave my old sweetheart
And Flat River behind.

Now come all ye bold raftsmen
with hearts stout and true,
Don't trust to a woman,
You're beat if you do!
But if you do meet one
With a dark chestnut curl,
Remember Jack Haggerty
And the Flat River Girl!

I sang my version of the Mick Hanley version which he of course seems to have changed, as well. I like the verse about going to Muskegon which he leaves out. I always thought it was an English or Irish song. The notes confirm Art's story, that it was a product of the Michigan woods and a spite song. Dan McGinnis was annoyed that George Mercer, a younger man, had been appointed woods boss over him. McGinnis and others concocted this song in 1872 about an affair between Haggerty, a good looking lumberjack at the camp and Anna Tucker, the belle of Greenville and Mercer's fiance.
And I'm going to sing it with the missing verse! harpgirl

^^