Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise) [Laws F4]

DESCRIPTION: John Lewis, to free himself of his pregnant sweetheart, offers to marry her but instead plans to drown her. She begs for her life, promising to go begging, but he throws her in the river. The body is found and Lewis imprisoned. (He escapes into the army.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1874 (Craven)
KEYWORDS: pregnancy homicide rejection prison drowning
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1807 (some sources, including her tombstone, say 1808, but see below) - Drowning of Naomi Wise in North Carolina
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,SE,So)
REFERENCES (36 citations):
Laws F4, "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)"
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 322-324, "Oma Wise" (2 texts)
Randolph 149, "Poor Oma Wise" (5 texts plus 2 excerpts and 1 fragment, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 163-166, "Poor Oma Wise" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 149A)
High-OldOldFolkSongs, pp. 37-38, "Poor... Oma" (1 text)
Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk, p. 28, "Little Oma" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Riddle-ASingerAndHerSongs, pp. 56-57, "Little Lonie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 300, "Poor Naomi (Omie Wise)" (5 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 2 more; it appears that Laws places texts "A" and "D" here, but "H" is also this song, with "F" and "G" being "Naomi Wise" [Laws F31])
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 300, "Poor Naomi (Omie Wise)" (2 excerpts, 2 tunes, both probably this)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore5 786, "(no title)" (1 tune with no text, which Schinhan says is closely related to the tune in Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4)
Lunsford/Stringfield-30And1FolkSongsFromSouthernMountains, pp. 28-29, "Poor Omia Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #38, "Naomi Wise" (2 texts, 1 tune, with the "A" text and tune, locally titled "Sweet William," being "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)" [Laws F4], while the "B" text is "Naomi Wise" [Laws F31])
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 63, pp. 187-188, "Poor Omie" (1 text)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol1, pp. 64-65, "Omie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton/Manning-EastTennesseeStateCollectionVol2, pp. 84-86, "Omy Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 169, "Pretty Molly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire-EastTennesseeWestVirginiaMountainBallads, pp. 30-31, "Oma Wise" (1 text)
Henry-SongsSungInTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 73-75, "John Lewis" (1 text)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol3, pp. 61-62, "Omie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burton-TennesseeTraditionalSingers, pp. 52-53, "Omie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 793-795, "Naomi (Omie) Wise" (2 texts)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 202, "Naomi Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 116, "The Ballad of Naomi Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, p.111, "Little Onie" (1 text)
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 138, "Omie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 51, pp. 119-120, "Poor Omie" (1 text)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 123, "Poor Omie" (7 texts, 7 tunes)
Burt-AmericanMurderBallads, pp. 25-28, "Omie Wise" (1 text plus some fragments, 1 tune; also an excerpt from another Naomi Wise song, seemingly neither this nor Laws F31)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia1, p. 232, "Poor Naomi" (1 text plus an excerpt of a second)
Leach-HeritageBookOfBallads, pp. 143-144, "Omie Wise" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 200-201, "Omie Wise" (1 text)
Dunson/Raim/Asch-AnthologyOfAmericanFolkMusic, p. 42 "Ommie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood-NewLostCityRamblersSongbook, p. 149, "Deep Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 225, "Omie Wise" ; p. 227, "Deep Water" (2 texts)
DT 627, OMIEWISE* OMIWISE2*
ADDITIONAL: Braxton Craven (writing as Charlie Vernon), _The Story of Naomi Wise_, The Greensville Patriot, 1874; republished in (Rotary Club of Randleman), _The Story of Naomi Wise and The History of Randleman_, 1944; reissued with a new Foreword 1962, p. 20, "Poor Naomi" (1 text)
ST LF04 (Full)
Roud #447
RECORDINGS:
Finley Adams, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 2796 B1)
Clarence Ashley, "Naomi Wise" (Columbia 15522-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on Ashley04)
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, "Poor Omie" (on Ashley03)
Dock Boggs, "Little Omie Wise" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Mrs. W. R. Buchanan, "Little Omie Wise" (AAFS 2857 B3)
Acie Cargill, Debra Cowan, Kristina Olsen, "Omie Wise" (on HCargillFamily)
Ruth Clark Cullipher, "Little Onie" (AAFS 1031 A1)
Morgan Denmon, "Naomi Wise" (OKeh 45075, 1927; rec. 1926)
Minnie Floyd, "Naomi Wise" (AAFS 1301 A1)
Cleophas Franklin, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 2891 B2)
Charlie Glenn, Shirley Glenn, "Omie Wise" (Piotr-Archive #182, recorded 06/06/2022)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Ommie Wise" (Victor 21625, 1927; on AAFM1, GraysonWhitter01, ConstSor1)
Goldie Hamilton, "Little Omie Wise" (AAFS 2829 A1)
Aunt Idy Harper & the Coon Creek Girls, "Poor Naomi Wise" (Vocalion 04354 [or 04345], 1938)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Omie Wise" (on Holcomb1, HolcombCD1)
A. J. Huff, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 2877 B3)
Sarah Ison, "Little Omie Wise" (AAFS 2810 B1)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Oma Wise" (AAFS 824 B2, 1935) (AAFS 3340/3341 A)
Polly Johnson, "Poor Omie" (AAFS 2760 A4)
Mrs. Esco Kilgore, "Oma Wise" (AAFS 2772 A2)
Alexander Kirkheart, "Naomi Wise" (AAFS 1700 A1)
Alec Moore, "Poor Omie Wise" (AAFS 57 B1)
Johanna Shepherd, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 1405 B2)
Lillian Short, "Naomi Wise" (AFS; on LC12)
Della Sibert, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 1486 A2)
Rick Ward, "Omie Wise" (Piotr-Archive #136, recorded 04/18/2022)
Doug Wallin, "Omie Wise" (on Wallins1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Naomi Wise" [Laws F31] (plot)
cf. "Tragic Romance" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Naomi Wise
NOTES [1526 words]: Eleanor R. Long-Wilgus wrote an important monograph on this piece ,Naomi Wise: Creation, Re-Creation, and Continuity in an American Ballad Tradition. Chapel Hill: Chapel Hill Press, 2003. viii + 88 pp.
Dr. Long-Wilgus's monograph on Naomi Wise proceeds from the apparent original "True Account of Nayomy Wise" to show how both folksongs, "Poor Omie" (Laws F4) and "Naomi Wise" (Laws F32), grew out of this original under the influence of two broadsides (on other murders) from the 18th Century, both exemplifying the "murdered girl" narrative theme. The first printed version of "Poor Omie" was published by Braxton Craven in 1851, the second, "Naomi Wise," was recorded in 1925 by Carson Robison. But Long-Wilgus argues convincingly that the songs are older, modeled on the murdered girl theme (cf. Banks of the Ohio [Laws F5], the Wexford Girl [Laws P35], or Rose Conoley [Laws F6]), and while they show communalities with the eighteenth and nineteenth century broadsides, do not derive strictly from them, but rather increasingly fulfill the conventions of the "murdered girl theme" implied by that original "True Account." - DGE
Arthur Palmer Hudson called this North Carolina's "Principal contribution to American folksong" (Roote, p. 70).
A good brief account of the whole incident is on pp. 51-57 of Polenberg; there is a bibliography (far from complete, but a start) on p. 266, which indicates that the piece by Long-Wilgus is the only published book on the subject although there is a 1982 masters thesis by Robert Thomas Roote (which Polenberg considers the most important source for the song. This is not the Roote article cited here; I have not seen the thesis and am citing a 1984 summary).
Polenberg lists two early accounts of the Naomi Wise murder, with the first one, a poem by Mary Woody, being the "True Account of Nayomy Wise" mentioned above; the other, later and less accurate, was by Braxton Craven (whose family seems to have been involved in the story; at least, a "Mrs. Craven" is said on p. 14 to have encountered Lewis after the murder). This is the edition cited here as "Craven." Craven (born 1822) published his account in the January and February 1851 issues of Evergreen (Polenberg, p. 52; Roote, p. 70, who summarizes Craven's account on the next pages; the "About the Author" note in Craven, however, says that it was in the April 1874 Greensboro Patriot; presumably this was a reprint or revised edition).
Craven's booklet is not only unreliable but heavily fictionalized, including, e.g., conversations between Naomi and Lewis that could not have been preserved by anyone (pp. 10-12, for instance, quotes the words they spoke to each other as they rode to the murder site -- words that no one except Lewis could have reported, and he never did). Nonetheless it was used in the 1944 volume which Roote, p. 74, credits to "Randelman" -- i.e. the Rotary Club of Randleman edition cited here. Wellman, p. p. 190, also admits that Craven was his only real source -- and it shows; Wellman's tale is as inaccurate as Craven's.
Craven, p. 1, gives this description of Wise: "Her size was medium; her figure beautifully formed; her face handsome and expressive; her eye keen yet mild; her words soft and winning." (Wellman, p. ix, does remind us that "any woman involved in a major crime... is apt to be described as breathlessly lovely"; there seem to be no non-fictional descriptions of Naomi's appearance.) Similarly, on p. 2 Craven describes the Lewises as fond of no-rules fighting; they were "tall, broad. muscular, and very powerful men," "eminently pugnacious," and prone to drunkenness; they were wild men fond of raiding others and abusive of their children. But he gives no source for any of this information. And the writing is opinionated, bombastic, moralizing, and patently largely out of Craven's own head. (It's a dreadful read.)
Wise's tombstone (shown facing p. 1 of Craven) gives her dates as 1789-1808. This is probably the basis for the contention of Craven, p. 5, that she was 19 -- but the tombstone is wrong, because she was murdered in 1807! (The tombstone is not contemporary with her death; I wonder if Craven influenced it.)
Although Craven said Wise was 19, she was certainly older although her exact age is unknown (she was an orphan who had been raised and indentured as a servant by William and Mary Adams of Randolph County; Polenberg, p. 54). She already had two children by the time she became pregnant by John Lewis: a nine-year-old daughter Nancy and a four-year-old son Henry. The fathers (plural) were known but had not married her (Polenberg, p. 53).
John Lewis was 24 and lived in neighboring Guilford County. Although he had seemingly gotten her pregnant, he did not want to marry her. Craven's story, pp. 6-7, says that Lewis wanted to marry Hettie Elliot, the sister of his boss, who of course had more money -- but like all things in Craven, it can hardly be trusted.
Lewis reportedly took her away on his horse to the mill dam at Adams's Spring near her home (Polenberg, p. 52, has a later photo of this mill dam). Polenberg gives the year as 1807, although some still maintain the 1808 date. She was strangled and/or drowned; the commotion was heard although no one was able to reach the scene of the crime in the dark. (So, at least, Craven, p. 12, but this detail seems to be accepted by others.)
The Adamses searched the next morning and found artifacts; calling on neighbors, they eventually found Naomi's body (Polenberg, pp. 54-55).
A Grand Jury returned a bill on March 30, 1807 accusing John Lewis of murder (Roote, p. 74).
Eventually they located John Lewis and took him into custody (Polenberg, p. 55; Craven, pp. 14-15, makes it sound as if it happened very quickly). It is interesting, in light of the use of the name "Omie" in this song, that at least one of the court documents pertaining to his custody, refers to Naomi as "Omia Wise" (quoted on p. 74 of Roote). Lewis was in prison for eight months, but managed to escape (Craven, p. 16) shortly before going on trial (the trial was scheduled for October 26, 1807, and Lewis got away on October 9; Roote, p. 75). Probably he had help; several people got in trouble about it (Roote, p. 76). He emigrated to the west. Supposedly (believe this if you want to!) he was discovered when someone sang a song about Naomi (Polenberg, pp. 55-56). In any case, he was finally brought back to North Carolina, but did not stand trial until October 1813. Given the long time lapse and the lack of physical evidence, it apparently was not possible to prove the case (at least, Roote, p. 78, can find no records of a murder trial, though he allows the possibility that one took place; Craven, p. 19, says he was tried and acquitted). The only thing Lewis was convicted of was the minor crime of breaking jail. Having been given a month's sentence (he actually serve 47 days, according to Roote, p. 77) and shown that he did not have the money to pay his fine (the legal record is quoted in Craven, p. 210, he was freed and allowed to head west to return to the wife he had married in 1811.
Although he had escaped justice, he did not enjoy freedom for long; he died in 1817, still in his early to mid thirties (Polenberg, pp. 56-57). Craven, p. 19, claims he confessed to everything, and was haunted by memories of Naomi -- but if there were a confession, someone would have seen it, and the Lewis Craven describes would certainly never have felt any guilt; it's pretty definitely another Craven creation.
All of this happened in what is now the town of Randleman, but that down did not exist at the time; a cotton mill had been built at Naomi Falls in 1879, and it was combined with the businesses of John Randleman to form the town of Randleman in 1880 (Craven, p. 24).
The Deep River, where Naomi was murdered, has now been dammed above Randleman to form Lake Randleman, but "Naomi Falls," near where she was killed still exists in the Deep River Nature Trail through Randleman. (It's not an "official waterfall," apparently not being big enough, but it is possible to identify in photographs.) In Google Maps, go to Randeman, NC and look for where US Highway 220 (Business Route) crosses the Deep River. A little ways below that is the "Naomi Bridge," which takes "Naomi Street" across the river; the falls can be seen in the distance from there.
In addition to Naomi Falls and Naomi Street, there was for many years a Naomi United Methodist Church, but it is now gone (Craven, p. 47).
There are at least two novels about the Naomi Wise murder, Sandra Redding, Naomi Wise: A Cautionary Tale, 2013, and Thorn L. Kegley, When the Whip-Poor-Will Cried: The Murder of Naomi Wise, 2015. I have not attempted to see either; Kegley's capsule autobiography, at least, gave no hint of writing skills. It is also one of the stories told in Manly Wade Wellman's "Dead and Gone: Classic Crimes of North Carolina."
Another book is due in late 2022: Hal E. Pugh and Eleanor Minnock-Pugh, Naomi "Omie" Wise: Her Life, Death, and Legend. This one sounds more valuable, but it wasn't available at the time of this writing. - RBW
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