Bluegrass Messengers

Wild Boar- Samuel Harmon (Tennessee) 1939

Wild Boar- Samuel Harmon (Tennessee) 1939

[From Halpert, LC/AAFS rec. 2805B as sung by Samuel Harmon (b. 1869). Learned from his father, Goulder Harmon. This is an old version possibly arriving in Virginia from England in 1638. It's rare in the US and is similar to Child C. Samuel Harmon was grandson to "Counce" Harmon, a legendary ballad singer and storyteller. Samuel's father is Counce's son Goulder (b. 1844- ) who married Little Sammy's daughter Nancy Jane Hicks (b 1844-- ). Samuel and his wife, Pollyana moved to Tennessee in the 1880s and were discovered there by Mellinger Henry, now living in Cade's Cove, TN (around 1930).

"Big Sammy," Samuel Hicks (1753- 1835), Counce's grandfather, was descended from David Hix (also spelled Hicks) whose great grandfather, also named Samuel Hicks, came from England to Virginia in 1638. In 1778 David moved to Watauga County, NC. So it may be that the ballad made the journey from England in 1638.

Sam Harmon and Buna Hicks (see her Hicks version) were related and both were originally from the Beech Mountain area. The following information comes from James W. Thompson's "The Origins of the Hicks Family Traditions" and from John Minear:

Sam Harmon's family "left the Valle Crucis (Beech Mountain) area before 1880."(p.19). Robey Monroe (1882-1957), Buna's husband, was the grandson of Council Harmon (1807-1896). Buna Vista Presnell Hicks (1888-1984) was the great-granddaughter of Council Harmon on both her father's and her mother's sides. Her mother and her father were first cousins to each other, and to her husband, Robey. Sam Harmon (1869-1940) was also a grandson of Council Harmon, and a first cousin of Robey, and a first cousin of Andrew Hicks and Sarah Jane Eggers, who were Buna Hicks' parents. I think this means that Buna was a second cousin to both her husband, Robey, and to Sam Harmon. Sam Harmon's mother was also a Hicks.

According to John Minear: There is another piece of information in Burton's book that clears up what had become something of a mystery. What is the meaning of the refrain "Blow your horn Center"? More specifically, what is the meaning of "Center"? If you compare Buna Hicks version and Sam Harmon's version with that of Child C, then "Center" has been substituted for "good hunter",

SIR ROBERT BOLTON had three sons,
[Wind well thy horn, good hunter]
And one of them was called Sir Ryalas.
[For he was a jovial hunter]

In his book, after giving Buna Hicks' "Jobal Hunter", Burton says, "She has added an initial verse from Mrs. Rena (Hicks)...

Abram Bailey had three sons,
And the youngest one was Center.
All to the wildwoods he went
Just like a jobal hunter.

This is compared to Sam Harmon's first verse:

Abram Bailey he'd three sons
Blow your horn center
And he is through the wildwood gone
Just like a jovial hunter.

This would indicate that "Center" is the name of Abram Bailey's youngest son, and that somehow this fell out of Sam Harmon's version. Burton goes on to give a "composite of Rena Hicks' written and recited version" as follows (p. 62).

"Center" was a family name taken from a cousin of Sam Harmon and Nathan Hicks, Rena Hicks' husband, a man named Center Hicks, the son of Hiram Hicks.

R. Matteson 2012, 2014]

WILD BOAR- Collected from Samuel Harmon, TN 1939; learned from his father. From Singing Tradition of the Popular Child Ballads, Bronson

Abram Bailey he'd three sons
Blow your horn center
And he is through the wildwood gone
Just like a jovial hunter.

As he marched down the Greenwood side
Blow your horn center
A pretty girl O there he spied
As he was a jovial hunter.

There is a wild boar in this wood
He slew the lord and his forty men
As he was a jovial hunter.

How can I this wild boar see?
Wind up your horn and he'll come to you
As you are a jovial hunter.

He wound his horn unto his mouth
He blew East North, West and South
As he was a jovial hunter.

The wild boar heard him unto his den
He made the oak and ash for to bend
As he was a jovial hunter.

They fit three hours by the day
And at length he this wild boar slay
As he was a jovial hunter.

As he marched by the mouth of the wild boar's den
He saw the bones of five hundred men
As he was a jovial hunter.

He meets the old witch wife on the bridge
Begone you rogue, you've killed my pig
As you are a jovial hunter.

There are three things I crave of thee
Your hawk, your hound your gay lady
As you are a jovial hunter.

These three thinks you'll not have of me
Neither hawk nor hound nor gay lady
As I am a jovial hunter.

He split the old witch wife to the chin
And on his way he went ag'in
Just like a jovial hunter.