Four Marys- Bullard (MO) c.1870 Randolph
[Two stanza fragment from Randolph, Ozark Folksongs- Vol. 1, British Ballads and Songs. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
26. THE FOUR MARYS
This is a fragment of "Mary Hamilton," Child 173. Child published 29 different versions of this ballad; it has since appeared rarely in either the British Isles or America. The English Folk Dance and Song Society (Journal 3, 1934, pp. 59-62) gives one stanza and tune, from Kidson's MSS., from Edinburgh, and Ord (Bothy Songs and Ballads, 1930, p. a57) published a text.
A fragment from Virginia was mentioned in JAFL (36, 1923, p. 20Q. Barry, Eckstorm and Smyth (British Ballad's from Maine, lgTg, p. 258) gave a text from New Brunswick. Combs (Folk-Songs d,u Midi des Etats-Unis, 1925, pp. 141-143) published a West Virginia text, and Davis (Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 7929, p. 421) two Virginia fragments. The Check-List of Recorded Songs in the Archive of American Folk Song (Washington, 1942. p. 106) includes "The Four Maries," sung by Mrs. Charlotte Mclnnes, Oakland, Calif., in 1939, and recorded by Sidney Robertson [Cowell].
The first stanza of the present text is the one referred to by Robert Burns (Letter to Mrs. Dunlop, Jan. 25, 1790): "I remember a stanza in an old Scottish ballad, which, not with-standing its rude simplicity, speaks feelingly to the heart."
The Four Marys- Sung by Mrs. Linnie Bullard, Pineville, Mo., July 7, 1926. Learned from neighbors near Jane, Mo., shortly after the Civil War.
Oh little did my mother think
The day she.............me,
What strange lands I would travel in,
Or what a death I'd die.
Last night there were four Marys
Tonight there will be but three,
There was Mary Seaton and Mary Beaton
And Mary Arbuckle and me.