Lyr Add: Government Claim

Subject: Lyr Add: Government Claim
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Nov 06 - 05:26 PM

LYR. ADD: GOVERNMENT CLAIM (GOVERMENT CLAMES)
Attrib. Frank Baker, c. 1889

"Frank baker is my name and a bachler I am
Ime keeping old bach just like a man
Youl find me out west in the county of ford
A starving to death on a goverment clame
Hurah for ford county tis the land of the free
The home of the bedbug grasshopper and flee
Ile sing loud its prases and tell of its fame
While starving to death on my goverment clame

My clothes they are ragged my language is ruf
My bread is case hardened both solid and tuf
The do it is scaterd all over the room
The floor it get scared at the site of a broom
Then come to ford county there is a home for you all
Where wind never ceases and the rain never falls
Where the sun never sinks but always remains
Till it cooks you all up on your goverment clames

My house it is built of the natheril soil
The walls are erected according to hoil
The roof has no pitch tis level and plain
I always get wet when it hapens to rain
There is nothing that makes a man more hard and profane
The dishes are scattered all over the bed
They are covered with sorgum potatoes and greas
How happy I feel when I crol into bed

When the rattlesnakes rattle a tune at my head
And the gay little bedbug so cheerful and bright
Thay keep me a lafing to thirds of the night
And the gay little flee with sharp tax in his toes
Play rattle logketchem all over my nose
Hurah for ford county hurah for the west
Where the farmers and lofers are ever at rest
Fore there is nothing to do but s(w)eetly remain
And starve like a man on a goverment clame

How happy I feel on my goverment clame
Ive nothing to loze and nothing (to) gain
Ive nothing to eat ive nothing to wear
And nothing from nothing is honest and fair
O its here I am and here I will stay
My money all gone and I cant get away
There is nothing that makes a man more hard and profane
Than a starving to death on a goverment clame

Hurah for ford county where blizerds arize
Where the wind is never clenched and the fall never dies
Then come join its cores and tell of its fame
You poor hungry men that stuc on a clame
Good by you clame holders I wish you all well
Just stic to your clames and ride them to bad (hell)
But as for myself ile no longer remain
And starve like a man on a goverment clame

Farewell to ford co farewell to the west
Ile travel bac east to the girl I love best
Ile stop in Mosoura and get me a wife
And live on corn dodgers the rest of my life"

(I have separated the lines into stanzas and put caps on the first word in each line to make reading easier.)

Notes by Myra Hull with song: "I have obtained from George A. Root of the Kansas State Historical Society a copy of a poem which is either a parody or a forerunner of "Starving to Death on a Government Claim' (Pound, op. cit., p. 178).
Of this production Mr Root says: "This was sent in as a contribution to the North Topeka Mail, about the year 1889, but was never used. My father, the late Frank A. Root, together with my brother and me, was engaged in the publication of the Mail. The poem struck me as full of humor and homely philosophy, and I rescued it and stowed it away, intending to print it if I could find any excuse for doing so." (The Mail rarely published verse of any sort.)
This curiosity is here printed for the first time and in exactly the form that it was submitted, almost fifty years ago."

"Cowboy Ballads," by Myra Hull, Kansas State Historical Society Quarterly, February, 1939.
http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1939/39_1_hull.htm

This seems to be the earliest verified copy of this well-known poem about a government claim.

In 21 Mar 00, Jim Krause submitted a note to mudcat, "Subject: Lane County Bachelor From: Dennis Bosley/ Topeka Kansas." Joe Offer reprinted the post in thread 19494, History of Songs. History of Songs

"Frank Baker is the correct name (commenting on the version in the DT), not Frank Bolar. I used to farm in Lane County, Kansas, 10 miles, as the crow flies, from Frank Baker's homestead." The letter states that Frank Baker wrote the song in the 1880's. The record of his filing is preserved.

A version of the poem appeared as "Greer County" in J. A. Lomax, 1910 (1925), "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads," The Macmillan Co., pp. 278-279.

I will post this later today.

Subject: Info: Starving to Death on a Government Claim
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Nov 06 - 05:55 PM

Here's the Traditional Ballad Index entry:

Starving to Death on a Government Claim (The Lane County Bachelor)

DESCRIPTION: "My name is Frank Taylor, a bach'lor I am, I'm keeping old batch on an elegant plan, You'll find me out west in the county of Lane, A-starvin' to death on a government claim." After much moaning about the bad conditions, the settler gives up and goes home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: pioneer settler hardtimes bachelor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 20, 1862 - President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Randolph 186, "Starving to Death on a Government Claim" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 120-122, "The Lane County Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 144-146, "The Alberta Homesteader" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 34, "The Alberta Homesteader" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 70, "Starving to Death on a Government Claim" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 434, "Greer County" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 22, "The Lane County Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 83, pp. 178-180, "Starving to Death on a Government Claim" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 121, "Starving To Death On A Government Claim" (1 text)
DT, STARVDTH*
Roud #799
RECORDINGS:
Edward L. Crain (Cowboy Ed Crane), "Starving to Death on a Government Claim" (Conqueror 8013, 1932)
Benjamin Kincaid, "The Lane County Bachelor" (Supertone 2574, c. 1933)
Pete Seeger, "Greer County Bachelor" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a, AmHist1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bent County Bachelor
Notes: The song clearly dates back to the latter part of the nineteenth century, the period of Homestead Claims. The Homestead Act of 1862 had opened large areas of the western U.S. to settlement, allowing settlers to lay claim to 160 acre sections in return for nominal payments. However, the settlers were required to live on their claims for five years before they could "prove up" and gain title to the property. Many settlers, like the one here, wound up living in impossible conditions because it was the only way to stake the claim. It was not at all rare for the homesteader to give up, sell the reversion on the claim, and head back east.
Fowke's Canadian version, "The Alberta Homesteader," is very much the same song, slightly adapted to the north country and the minor differences in Canada's homesteading laws (created when Canada took over the western part of the continent from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1871, although most migrants did not start out until the 1880s). - RBW
File: R186

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The Ballad Index Copyright 2006 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Government Claim
From: Deckman
Date: 22 Nov 06 - 06:22 PM

Joe,

Thanks for all your diligent work in adding this to the library. Much appreciated. Merry Thanksgiving. Bob(deckman)Nelson

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Government Claim
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Nov 06 - 08:17 PM

Incidentally, Frank Baker never proved up his claim.

Subject: Lyr Add: GREER COUNTY
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 22 Nov 06 - 08:51 PM

Lyr. Add: GREER COUNTY
c. 1909

Tom Hight is my name, an old bachelor I am,
You'll find me out west in the country of fame,
You'll find me out west on an elegant plain,
And starving to death on my government claim.

Chorus:
Hurrah for Greer County!
The land of the free,
The land of the bed-bug,
Grass-hopper and flea;
I'll sing of its praises
And tell of its fame,
While starving to death
On my government claim.

My house is built of natural sod,
Its walls are erected according to hod;
Its roof has no pitch but is level and plain,
I always get wet if it happens to rain.

How happy am I on my government claim,
I've nothing to lose, and nothing to gain;
I've nothing to eat, I've nothing to wear,-
From nothing to nothing is the hardest fare.

How happy am I when I crawl into bed,-
A rattlesnake hisses a tune at my head,
A gay little centipede, all without fear,
Crawls over my pillow and into my ear.

Now all you claim holders, I hope you will stay
And chew your hard tack till you're toothless and gray;
But for myself I'll no longer remain
To starve like a dog in my government claim.

My clothes are all ragged as my language is rough,
My bread is corn dodgers, both solid and tough;
But yet I am happy, and live at my ease
On sorghum molasses, bacon and cheese.

Good-bye to Greer County where blizzards arise,
Where the sun never sinks and a flea never dies,
And the wind never ceases but always remains
Till it starves us all out on our government claims.

Farewell to Greer County, farewell to the West,
I'll travel back east to the girl I love best,
I'll travel back to texas and marry me a wife,
And quit corn bread for the rest of my life.

John A. Lomax, 1910, 1925, "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads," The Macmillan Co., pp. 278-279.
In 1938, Lomax and Lomax, pp. 407-408, added a partial score and this note: "From Tom Hight's scrapbook, Oklahoma City, OK, 1909. The "Tom Hight" of the song is the universal claim holder of early Oklahoma days."

There must be a printed source from which the variants arose. The Alberta (Canadian) variant must be post-1905, the date the province came into existence.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Government Claim
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 22 Nov 06 - 09:47 PM

THANK YOU Mr. Q.

This is one of my favorites songs, and first learned (via Frost/Steinbeck/Stanford)

Your attribution, to the original source of your text (who, when, where) helps to triangulate (from multiple sources) an origin, or well-spring closest to the first text.

Mr. Q.... it is people like you ....with original (annotated) contributions that have kept the MudCat alive as a "folk repository."

I salute you. Heil!!!

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Government Claim
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 23 Nov 06 - 03:05 PM

"The Alberta Homesteader," in the DT, is the same song moved North to Canada.
When the Canadian government took over Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company, the Dominion Lands Act (1872) offered a free grant of a quarter-section of federally surveyed (160 acres) to anyone who would live on it for three years and start farming it. It was required that he farm 30 acres and built a permanent dwelling. Ten dollars was the fee for registering the claim.
Starting in the 1880's, 60,000 entered Manitoba but less than half stayed. Friction continued to increase with the Metis, who saw land that they considered theirs taken by the newcomers.
The Canadian Pacific RR, finished 1885, brought settlers into Saskatchewan and Alberta. Only 3000 had taken up land in Alberta by 1896. The Grand Trunk Railway between 1906-1919 had a line from Winnepeg through Saskatckewan, Alberta (Edmonton) and British Columbia to Prince Rupert on the Coast, later taken over by the government and becoming part of the Canadian National RR. Most available lands in SE Alberta and the west central 'Peace River block' were homesteaded, the last real push from veterans returning from WW2.
The Act was repealed in 1984.

Organized Ukrainian emigration and settlement, mostly from Galicia and Bukovyna, began in the 1890's, covering 2500 sq. mi. by 1916, and continuing strongly into the 1920's; their influence continues to be strong in east central Alberta.