Chatham Merchant, The

DESCRIPTION: "In Chatham lived a merchant, a very wealthy man" who has a beautiful daughter. Rich men court her, but she loves a solder. She disguises herself and becomes his comrade. He is wounded. She helps him recover. They return home and greet her father
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950 (collected from Mrs. Stanley Horn by Boswell)
KEYWORDS: love soldier father cross-dressing disguise injury
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 27, pp. 48-50, "The Chatham Merchant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11037
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany)" [Laws N7] (theme) and references there
NOTES [79 words]: Wolfe in his notes to Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee is unable to discover any exact parallels to this song, and I haven't seen any either. But the general plot is obviously of the same type as "Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany)" [Laws N7] and all the related songs references in that entry. The similarity to "The London Heiress (The Brisk and Lively Lad)" is particularly notable. I frankly think this song is a rewrite of some song of that type. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
File: BoWo027

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