Mary of the Wild Moor [Laws P21]

DESCRIPTION: Abandoned Mary comes with her child to her father's door on a bitter winter night. Her father fails to hear or ignores her cries, leaving her all night on the doorstep. In the morning he finds her body. He dies of grief and the child of neglect
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads fol. 27)
KEYWORDS: death father children family hardheartedness grief
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (47 citations):
Laws P21, "Mary of the Wild Moor"
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "MARY OF THE WILD MOOR"
Thompson-APioneerSongster 85, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Newman/Devlin-NeverWithoutASong, p. 143, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 fragment)
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, p. 114, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text) (p. 96 in the 1919 edition)
Sturgis/Hughes-SongsFromTheHillsOfVermont, pp. 44-46, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan6 1175, "Why Did I Leave My Auld Hame?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 213-214, "The Wind Across the Wild Moor" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Gl 89)
Purslow-TheConstantLovers, p. 57, "Mary If The Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 77-78, "Mary Across the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #124, "Mary Across the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Graham-Joe-Holmes-SongsMusicTraditionsOfAnUlsterman 48, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-TheGam-MoreSongsWhalemenSang, pp. 239-240, "The Winds That Blew 'Cross the Wild Moor (Mary on the Wild Moor)" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 207-208, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text plus references to 5 more)
Randolph 72, "The Wild Moor" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 107-108, "The Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 72A)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 111, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-1ed, pp. 75-77, "The Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, pp. 69-70, "The Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 88, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, p. 216, "Young Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 45, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Neely/Spargo-TalesAndSongsOfSouthernIllinois, p. 149, "Mary o' the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 78, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 78, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (3 excerpts, 3 tunes)
Joyner-FolkSongInSouthCarolina, pp. 51-52, "Mary on the Wild Moor" (1 reconstructed text, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #213, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 335-336, "The Wind That Blew O'er the Wild Moor" (1 text, with local title "Poor Mary"; tune on p. 448)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #114, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 20, pp. 28-30, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (3 texts)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 733-734, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Leach-FolkBalladsSongsOfLowerLabradorCoast 62, "Mary Across the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Mackenzie-BalladsAndSeaSongsFromNovaScotia 61, "The Village Pride" (1 text)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol1, pp. 132-134, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 466, "When Mary Came Wandering Home" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Botkin-TreasuryOfNewEnglandFolklore, pp. 548-549, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 35, pp. 81-82, "Mary o' the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 148, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text plus mention of 3 more)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-A, #27, p. 103, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol1, pp. 62-63, "Mary, of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 133-134, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, p. 155, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dime-Song-Book #2/72, p. 28 and #2/64, p. 28, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1393, p. 95, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (2 references)
MidwestFolklore, Ivan H. Watson, "Folk Singing on Beaver Island," Volume 2, Number 4 (Winter 1952), p. 248, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (reference only)
cf. Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan, p. 481, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (source notes only)
DT 503, WILDMOOR* WLDMOOR1*
ST LP21 (Full)
Roud #155
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (Bluebird B-8446/Montgomery Ward M-8667, 1940)
Jim Molloy, "Wind Across the Wild Moor" (on MUNFLA/Leach)
Letys Murrin, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (on Ontario1)
Debra Sharpe, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (Piotr-Archive #594, recorded 05/30/2023 -- a summary rather than an actual song)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 27[many illegible words], "Mary of the Moor," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Johnson Ballads 1802 View 2 of 2, Harding B 11(3), Harding B 11(2364), Harding B 11(2365), Harding B 11(1501), Firth c.12(443), Harding B 11(4232), Harding B 11(4233), Firth b.25(147), Harding B 15(188b), "Mary of the Moor"; Firth b.27(69), Harding B 26(600), "Poor Mary of the Wild Moor"; Firth b.34(229), Firth c.26(275)[some illegible lines], 2806 c.16(261), 2806 c.14(78), 2806 c.14(13)[some illegible words], "Mary of the Wild Moor[!]"; Harding B 11(2789), Harding B 17(243b), Harding B 25(1538)[some illegible lines], 2806 c.18(252) [some illegible/missing words], "Poor Mary of the Moor"
LOCSheet, sm1882 10438, "Mary of the Wild Moor," Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston), 1882 (tune)
LOCSinging, sb30333b, "Mary of the Wild Moor," H. De Marsans (New York), 1861-1864; also as108620, as108630, "Mary of the Wild Moor"
Murray, Mu23-y4:018, "Poor Mary of the Wild Moor," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(072), "Poor Mary of the Wild Moor", unknown, c.1860
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Snowstorm" [Laws P20] (theme)
SAME TUNE:
Robin's Petition (per broadside Bodleian Harding B 25(1538))
NOTES [55 words]: Quoted by Laura Ingalls Wilder in chapter 14 of By the Shores of Silver Lake. She does not repeat the sad ending, of course. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30333b: H. De Marsans dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: LP21

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