Manuscripts Department
Library of the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
SOUTHERN HISTORICAL COLLECTION
#4372
SUE CAMPBELL WATTS COLLECTION
Inventory
Abstract: About 65 ballad transcriptions, 1849-1904, by
members of the William B. Jones family, Alexander
County, N.C.; correspondence, 1966-1968, about these
ballads and related matters between Sue Campbell Watts
and Daniel W. Patterson; and a few related items.
Online Catalog Terms:
Ballads, English--North Carolina.
Folk music--North Carolina.
Jones family.
Jones, William B.
North Carolina--Songs and music.
Patterson, Daniel W. (Daniel Watkins).
Watts, Sue Campbell, 1897-1968.
Size: About 140 items (0.5 linear feet).
Provenance: Original transcriptions received from Philip
Watts, Raleigh, N.C., December 1983; photocopies
and correspondence transferred from the ARTHUR
PALMER HUDSON PAPERS (#4026), April 1984.
Access: RESTRICTED: Original reel-to-reel audio tape in
Series 2.4 not open to research; researchers must
use listening copy.
Copyright: Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or
their descendants, as stipulated by United States
copyright law.
Table of Contents:
Biographical Note
Series Descriptions
Series 1. Correspondence
Series 2. Ballads
Shelf List
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
In the mid-19th century, members of the William B. Jones
family of Alexander County, N.C., began exchanging "song ballets"
or copies of the words of songs they knew. They continued this
tradition into the early 20th century. One of the most prolific
of the original transcribers of ballads was Ruth Emaline Jones
Barnes (1834-1924), daughter of William B. Jones.
Many of the Jones family's transcriptions of popular ballads
were collected by Ruth E. Jones Barnes's granddaughter, Sue
Campbell Watts (1897-1968). Watts's interest in ballads was
stimulated by a class she took at Salem College in 1914 in which
E. L. Starr asked his students to find old ballads. Watts
contributed a transcription of "Jimmy and Nancy" from her
grandmother's collection, a ballad previously uncollected in
America by folklorists. Articles concerning this discovery are
available in the control file.
During the last two years of her life, Watts corresponded with
Daniel W. Patterson, professor of folklore at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series 1. Correspondence
1966-1968. 23 items.
Letters from Sue Campbell Watts to Daniel Patterson, with a
few other items. Principal subjects include particular ballads
(many of which are included in Series 2), a dulcimer belonging to
Ruth E. Jones Barnes, and songs from the services of St. John's
Baptist Church, Taylorsville, N.C. Photographs (9) and sketches
(2) of the dulcimer and photographs (5) of St. John's Church were
enclosed in some of these letters (see photographs).
In her letters to Daniel Patterson, Sue Campbell Watts
enclosed transcriptions of several ballads that do not appear
elsewhere in these papers. The following is a list of the
letters with which these ballads are enclosed, the title or first
line of each ballad, and its length in terms of stanzas:
10 November 1966 Granny Knick-y-Nack
4 stanzas
Jim
2 stanzas plus chorus
Pat in a Barber shop
2 stanzas
French Broad
3 stanzas
Deliverance Will Come
2 1/2 stanzas plus chorus
(incomplete)
25 January 1967 Seven hymns from Hymn Book of the
Methodist Episcopal Church South.
1897. Also, two "spontaneous
songs":
What a Happy Time
3 stanzas plus chorus
Leaning on the Everlasting Arms
3 stanzas plus chorus
21 April 1967 I'd Rather Marry a Young Man
2 stanzas plus chorus
Frankie Silvers
7 of 15 stanzas
I Left My Father... (Civil War ballad)
14 stanzas
3 May 1967 Chicken Soup A So Good (chant)
11 lines
12 July 1967 The Cat CAme Back
5 stanzas plus chorus
Coal Black Lady
2 stanzas plus chorus
Folder 1
P-4372/1 R. E. Jones Barnes's dulcimer, September 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 4 October 1966.
/2 R. E. Jones Barnes's dulcimer, October 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 10 November 1966.
Info. on verso: "Made by Sue C. Watts
(Mrs. A. E.). This shows shape of each end."
/3-5 R. E. Jones Barnes's dulcimer, October 1966.
Enclosures from letter of 10 November 1966.
/6 Dewey D. Moose and his dulcimer, October 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 10 November 1966.
/7-9 R. E. Jones Barnes's dulcimer, October 1966.
Enclosures from letter of 10 November 1966.
/10 St. John's Baptist Church, Taylorsville, NC.,
December 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 25 January 1967.
Info. on verso: "St. Johns Baptist Church 1965."
/11 St. John's Baptist Church, Taylorsville, NC,
December 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 25 January 1967.
Info. on verso: "St. Johns Baptist Church 1926."
/12 Rev. James Calvin Rowe of St. Johns Baptist
Church, December 1966.
/13 Rev. James Calvin Rowe preaching, December 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 25 January 1967.
/14 Choir of St. John's Baptist Church, December 1966.
Enclosure from letter of 25 January 1967.
Series 2. Ballads
1849-1904. ca. 80 items.
Transcriptions, ca. 1849-1904, of ballads, and sheet music,
transcribed in 1966.
The transcriptions are arranged in two subseries: original
transcriptions, partially dated from 1849-1898; and photocopies
of transcriptions, partially dated from 1884-1904. When known,
references are given to Laws or Child numbers, preference being
goven to the former. [Sources for these numbers are: G. Malcolm
Laws, Native American Balladry, rev. ed. (Philadelphia, 1964;
ballads A through I); G. Malcolm Laws, American Balladry From
Brithish Broadsides (Philadelphia, 1957; ballads J through Q);
Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads
(1884-1898), 5 vols.)]
The following information is given for each original
transcription (Subseries 2.1): title or first line, first few
lines of the ballad, number of stanzas, Laws or Child number, and
any signatures or dates. Photocopies of articles about the
ballad or of variant copies of the ballad are in some cases
included with the original transcription.
For the photocopies of transcriptions (Subseries 2.2), the
following information is noted: title or first line, number of
stanzas, Laws number. Some of these are also signed, primarily
by children of Ruth E. Jones Barnes and Thomas Barnes: Martha,
Laura (1861-1949), Elizabeth Emeline (1865-1938), Julia, or
Thomas. Most of the photocopies are from originals which in 1968
were in the possession of Ella Deal and Mrs. Newtie Deal
Johnston, daughters of Laura Barnes Deal.
A list of the titles or first lines of ballads for which there
is sheet music is given for Subseries 2.3. This music was
transcribed by Daniel Patterson from the singing of Sue Campbell
Watts in August 1966.
Subseries 2.4 contains a recording of ballads by Swift W.
Gwaltney.
Subseries 2.1. Original Transcriptions
49 items.
Folder 2. Amid the Hours that Rapid Fly
"Amid the hours that rapid fly
Amid the flowers that soon must die"
2 stanzas (perhaps unconnected?)
3. Barbara Allen
"In Scarlett town where I was born
There was a fair maid dwelling"
10 stanzas (incomplete?)
Child 84B
4. Charming Beauty Bright
"When I was a young man I courted a
beauty brite
On whom I had placed my whole
hearts delight"
10 stanzas
Laws M3
Signed, "Ruth E. Jones," dated 18 November 1852.
5. Dieing Minor (The Landslide)
"Companions draw nigh they say I
must die
Early the summons has come from on high"
3 stanzas plus chorus
6. The False Lover
"I loved thee in my days of joy
When thow was but a slender boy"
11 stanzas
7. The Farmers Boy
"The sun had set behind the hills
When are you dreary mourned
All merry and cold a lad there came
Up to the farmers door"
5 stanzas
Laws Q30
Signed, "William R. Jones"
8. Father Dear Father
"O father dear father come kiss me
once more
And stand by my bed just tonight
Your Nettie will walk through the valley of
death"
5 stanzas plus chorus
Signed, "Florence Barnes," dated 27 March 1890
9. Frankie and Albert
"Little Frankie was a good girl
As anybody knows"
Laws 13
Signed, "Edd C. Campbell"
10. I Think I'll Get Married
"I think I'll git mare I am
giting old
Too long alone I've lived in the
bleak world and cold"
4 stanzas plus chorus
11. Jack Monroe
"Poor Jack has gone a sailing with
trouble in his mind
A leaving of this country his
darling girl behind"
8 stanzas
Laws N7
12. Jimmy and Nancy (Nancy of Yarmouth)
"Lovers I pray lend an ear to my story
And take example by this constant pain"
28 stanzas
Laws M38
Signed, "William B. Jones," and dated
9 August 1855 in red ink; dated 1853 in
same ink as text.
13. Johnny Doyle
"Last Saturday evening way late
in the night
As me and my love was about
to take flight"
8 stanzas
Laws M2
Signed, "Ruth E. Jones"
14. Lilly Dear
"Oh Lily dear it grieves me
The tale I have to tell
Old master sends me roaming
So Lily fare yu well"
4 stanzas plus chorus
(See also a copy of this in the stitched
packet, folder 30)
15. Lord Thomas and Fair Elenor
"Dear mamma dear mamma come
riddle us both
Come riddle us both as one
For me to marry fair Elenor
Or to bring the brown girl home"
56 lines
Child 73D
16. Me Thinks the Time...
"Me thinks the time is drawing nigh
When you and I must part"
8 stanzas
(See also a copy of this in the stitched
packet, folder 30)
17. Miss Polly
"Miss Polly being the squires
daughter
Most wonderful and beautiful and
(fair?)"
(Polly is re-united with her disguised lover,
William Taylor, after a long absence)
6 stanzas
Similar to Laws N29-N33, N36
Signed, "F. M. Parkes to Emily Jones,"
dated 16 December 1853
18. The Murder of Laura Foster (Tom Dula, Dooley,
or Duly)
"I met her on the hill side
And there you might suppose"
7 stanzas plus chorus
Laws F76
Signed, "Florence Barnes Camp(b)ell,"
dated May 1897
19. My Brethern...
"My Brethern I have found a land that
doth abound
In fruits as sweet as (manna?)"
7 stanzas plus chorus
20. Perry's Victory (2 copies)
I: "Ye tars of Columbia give ear to
my story
Who fought with brave Pery where
cannon did roar"
11 stanzas
Signed, "R. Emma Jones," dated
1 November 1857
II: "The tenth of September
Let us all remember"
18 lines (incomplete?)
21. I: Poor Drunkards
"Poor drunkards poor drunkards
take warning by me
The frutes of transgression behold
I now see"
7 stanzas
Dated (on verso) 25 July 1856
II: Christ in the Garden
"While nature was sinking in
stillness to rest
The last beam of daylight shown
dim in the west"
8 stanzas
22. Pretty Fair Maid
"Pretty fair maid out in garden,
A (gay) young soldier was passing by"
7 stanzas
Laws N42
Signed, "F. Sue Campbell"
23. I: Rebel Soldier
"One morning one morning one
morning in may
I heard a por fellow lamenting
and say"
Fragment, signed Mrs. R. E. Barnes,
dated 20 April 1867.
(A photocopy of a complete transcription,
signed, "Laura C. Deal," and dated
7 October 1884, is included)
II: Maggie Dear (on verso of "Rebel Soldier"
fragment)
"...When sorrows breakers around
my heart shall hide
Still may I find maggie a
setting by my side"
Fragment of the 2nd and 3rd stanzas
24. Rich Lady (Pretty Sally, The Fair
Damsel from London)
"There was a rich Lady from London
she came
Whose name it was Sally oh Sally by name"
2 copies, one incomplete, the other with
8 stanzas.
Laws P9
(The complete copy has fragments of
"Granny Knick-y-Nack" on the verso.
See songs with correspondence, folder 1)
25. An S A...
"An s a now I mean 2 write
2 u sweet K T J
The girl without a ll [This is the symbol for
"parallel" (ll)]
The belle of U T K"
44 lines
Signed, "R.E.J." (Ruth E. Jones)
26. Sign of the Sons of Temperance
"Oh sweet the strains are swelling
Where the sons of temperance meet"
4 stanzas
Signed, "Ruth E. Jones," dated
7 August 1850.
27. The Sonnet
"Where for eternal worlds I steer
And seas are calm and skies are clear"
3 stanzas
Dated 20 February 1849
28. Wagoner Lad
"I am a poor girl
And my fortunes been bad
I've a long time been courted
By a wagoner lad"
10 stanzas
Signed, "E. E. Deal for Mrs. R. E. Barnes,"
dated 8 May 1898
29. Who Is My Sweetheart
"Who is my sweetheart
I'm sure I can't tell I'm sure
I can't tell"
6 stanzas
30. Stitched Packet, containing 6 ballads
I. "The twilight of the trees and rocks
Is in the light shades of locks"
7 stanzas
Signed, "R. E. J." (Ruth E. Jones),
dated 1 April 1852
II. Lily Dear
(See also a copy in folder 14)
III. Old Folks Are Gone
"Far far in many lands I've
wandered sadly and lone
My heart was ever turning southward
To all the dear ones at home"
3 stanzas plus chorus
IV. "Me thinks the time is drawing nigh"
Signed, "R. E. Jones"
(See also a copy in Folder 16)
V. "Young men I pray to lend attention
To these few lines I'm about to
write
Its of a youth I'me agoing to
mention
Who lately courted a buteous bride"
2 stanzas (incomplete)
VI. Locks and Bolts (I Dreamed of My True Love)
"Last night as I lay on my bed
All in my arms I had her"
4 stanzas
Laws M13
Subseries 2.2. Photocopies
26 items.
Folder 31. All for the Sake of Molly-O
7 stanzas
Back to the One I Love So Well
5 stanzas plus chorus
Bonnie Blue Eyes
6 stanzas
The Character of a Wonderful Prophet
15 lines
The Ballad of Charles Guiteau
3 stanzas plus chorus
Death Tis a Melancholy Call
9 stanzas
Laws H5?
32. The Drunkards
5 stanzas
Ellars Grave
7 stanzas plus chorus
Hard Working Miner
4 stanzas plus chorus
I Have a Little Rosewood Casket
7 stanzas
I Once Love a Young Man
11 stanzas
33. Jesse James Had a Wife
4 stanzas plus chorus
Johney
5 stanzas
Lines on the Death of Little Clara Steck
9 stanzas
Mr. Bar Keeper
8 stanzas
Moon Light Alone
5 stanzas plus chorus
34. My Barke of Life
3 stanzas plus chorus
On the Banks of Ohio
4 stanzas plus chorus
The Orphan Girl
8 stanzas
The Rambling Boy
9 stanzas
Laws L12
Sinful to Flirt
7 stanzas
The Stormes Rise Over the Ocean
4 stanzas
35. Sweet Ellerree
6 stanzas plus chorus
Two Little Boys
10 stanzas
Two Little Children
4 stanzas
Wayfaring Stranger
10 stanzas
Widow in the Cottage by the sea
3 stanzas
Subseries 2.3. Sheet Music
4 sheets, covering 7 ballads
Folder 36. Wagoner Lad
Lord Thomas and Fair Elenor
I Once Love a Young Man (2 copies)
The Farmers Boy
The Stormes Rise Over the Ocean
Granny Knick-y-Nack
Frankie and Albert
Subseries 2.4. Audio Tape
1 item
FT 6262 Recording of ballads performed by Swift T. Gwaltney
(father) of Hiddenite, N.C., Sue Campbell Watts, and
Mrs. R. M. Bonk (sister), 1967.
SHELF LIST
Box 1 Series 1. Correspondence (folder 1)
Series 2. Ballads
Subseries 2.1. Original Transcriptions (folders 2-30)
Subseries 2.2. Photocopies (folders 31-35)
Subseries 2.3. Sheet Music (folder 36)
Items separated:
OP-4372
P-4372/1-14
FT 6262 (in Southern Folklife Collection)