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History of songs

21 Mar 00 - 09:41 AM (#198609)
Subject: History of songs
From: GUEST,Barbara

I am interested in finding HOW to locate sources for historical information on songs - in particular at this time is one, "Starving to death on my government claim" or "Lane County Bachelor". Was it referring to mining, westward expansion, gold rush in particular, etc. Thank you!! Barbara

21 Mar 00 - 02:53 PM (#198793)
Subject: RE: History of songs
From: Uncle_DaveO

My understanding is, it's referring to a claim to so much acreage for farming if you would build a "permanent" type dwelling on it and actually live there and farm it for some period of time--maybe five years, I don't know. Homesteading, in other words.

My step-father told me he had homesteaded in I think South Dakota in his youth, and he swore that every word of "The Lane County Bachelor" was true, in his experience. This would have been in the late 1800s, or MAYBE the first ten years of the century.

Dave Oesterreich

21 Mar 00 - 03:38 PM (#198811)
Subject: Starving to Death on a Government Claim
From: Joe Offer

Hi - a good place to start is The Traditional Ballad Index (click here). I've wondered where Lane County is, but I have to admit I haven't researched it. I had assumed it was the one in Oregon, but that Lane County doesn't get much snow, does it? (as my link shows, it has other nice features)
Click here for two versions of the song, right here in our Digital Tradition Folk Song Database.
-Joe Offer-

So, where is this Lane County?

21 Mar 00 - 04:21 PM (#198831)
Subject: RE: History of songs
From: Jim Krause

You can also find out more than you'd probably like by contacting the Kansas Historical Society. The lyrics were published in the 1880s in a newspaper in Dighton County, KS. The lyrics are usually sung to the tune of the Irish Washerwoman. If anyone has ever been to Lane County KS, you can sympathize with his sentiments. What the author was talking about in the song was the hardship of farming during an era of low farm prices,and bad weather. There was nothing but the sod to use for building material.

02 Jan 06 - 10:11 PM (#1640077)
Subject: RE: History of songs-Lane County Bachelor
From: Joe Offer

Looks like we have more work to do on this song. I didn't see any other threads. Here's a message that was posted by mistake in the Help Forum:
Subject: Lane County Bachelor
From: Dennis Bosley/ Topeka Kansas
Date: 01-Jan-06 - 02:44 PM

Frank Baker is the correct name, not Frank Bolar. I used to farm in Lane County, Kansas, 10 miles, as the crow flies, from Frank Baker's homestead. Max Prose, of Dighton, has all kinds of stories passed down to him from his great grandfather, about how Frank Baker wrote his song, and how he lived, in Lane County in the 1880's. By the way, Frank Baker did not "prove up" his claim, but the record of his filing was left with the federal land office of Wakeeney, which now is preserved in the archives of Fort Hays State University, Hays, Kansas.

If you have any questions, you could contact the Department of History, Fort Hays State University, Hays Kansas 67601, or Tom Averill, Writer in Residence, Washburn University, Topeka KS 66621

Best regards,

Dennis Bosley