" A Home On The Range." John A. Lomax, 1910, "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads." Lomax publishes words and music without comment.
"A Home On The Range." John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax, 1938, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads." "A Negro saloon keeper in San Antonio gave me the music to "Home On The Range" as herein reprinted. The words are also identical with the version of "Cowboy Songs," 1910. They were assembled from several sources and have since often been pirated."
By 1947, John and Alan Lomax published the considerably embellished story, as given by Joe Offer above. Apparently this was the first mention of a recording. The statement that the verses "were assembled from several sources" was dropped. In 1938 he said the music came from the Negro saloon keeper; in 1947 he said a blind music teacher set it down.

All of this is long after the publication of the words in the Kirwin Chief (Feb. 26, 1876), one of the little papers read and reread on the plains.