Our oldtime KY Mountain banjopicking version may help to understand the meaning of some of the verses. Sample:

O that pretty little girl, sixteen years old
Hair just as yaller as the flamin gold,
The prettiest eyes and the sweetest hands-
God bless the ground onwhere she stands!

It's down to the Clyde for to mourn and weep
For I'm satisfied that I cannot sleep.
I'll write her a letter in a few short lines-
That I'd suffer death ten thousand times.

I assume that last line means, 'for her sake I'd suffer death'.

And by the way, Troublesome is a small creek in Knott Co., KY, not a river. My folks were born and raised "on Troublesome." Hereabouts, the name of the creek becomes the descriptive name for all the region it flows through, like Troublesome, Kingdom Come, Hell f'r Sartin, Little Elkhorn, etc. Niles, to localize the song, changed the name of the river (Clyde) to that of our creek (Troublesome).

Sing your best! Jean