Lady and the Farmer's Son, The [Laws O40]

DESCRIPTION: A wealthy lady wants a youth to marry her, but he is pledged to one of the lady's servants. The lady brings her maid on a boat trip and throws her into the sea. She winds up in prison; the young man goes mad
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1802 (The Complete Pocket Songbook)
KEYWORDS: homicide drowning prison servant courting money
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws O40, "The Lady and the Farmer's Son"
Flanders/Olney-BalladsMigrantInNewEngland, pp. 170-171, "The Lady and the Farmer's Son" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 490, FARMSON*
ADDITIONAL: Eliphalet Mason, _The Complete Pocket Song Book_, Andrew Wright (Northampton, MA), 1802 (available on Internet Archive), pp 43-46, "The Farmer's Son" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #994
NOTES [38 words]: This is so close to Sharp's "Handsome Sally" that Paul Stamler lumped them. But Laws and Roud distinguish them, so I tentatively do the same.
Thanks to Michael Taft for pointing out the 1802 Complete Pocket Songbook edition. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.4
File: LO40

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