Ballad of Little Musgrave: Author

We are working on the assumption that The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard was based on a historical event; first written in the reign of Henry VIII. It was changed in James I of England's reign. This post asks who was there to write the original version.

Little Musgrave

The Musgraves were,

"A powerful family of Cumberland who had a long record of service to the English Crown, both as soldiers and March officers. ...One of the two 'greatest names' of the West Wardenry (the other was Salkfield), the Musgraves were constantly at feud on the Scottish side, and had a three century vendetta with their fellow Cumbrians, the Dacres."

Steel Bonnets page 63 Kindle Unlimited 

That's not their only feud with fellow Englishmen.

Ballad of Little Musgrave: Origin

We're blogging on the border Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard. It's a song about a love triangle between a Lord, his Lady and Little Musgrave. It ends violently. The background for this post is the historical setting of and the earliest text for this ballad we've previously established.

Holy Day Gathering

Ballad of Little Musgrave: Text

Our family surname is derived from Musgrave. We've posted on The Ballad of Little Musgrave. We believe some event is the basis for this ballad.

Our last post, on the historical setting, dated the events to the reign of King Henry VIII and his Reformation; the move from a Catholic to a Protestant England. In this post, we'll attempt to uncover the original story.

Ballad of Little Musgrave: History

                       

1930s AAA road sign preserved
on display in the village

The Ballad of Little Musgrave, known in the USA as Matty Groves:

...is a Border ballad probably originating in Northern England that describes an adulterous tryst between a man and a woman that is ended when the woman's husband discovers and kills them. Wikipedia

Our Musgrove surname derives from Musgrave, a family from Great and Little Musgrave in Westmoreland - now incorporated by Cumbria -  on the English/Scottish border. More than just a great old ballad, this is part of our family's oral history. In this series of posts, we attempt to bring that perspective to the Ballad of Little Musgrave.

Ballad of Little Musgrave: Versions

Our Musgrove surname derives from the Musgraves of Cumbria, England. We've blogged about the 'Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard'; a tale of infidelity, passion, and murder.

 

'The Roud Folk Song Index contains over 300 instances of this ballad, and shows that the ballad has been collected mostly in North America: 113 versions listed in Roud were found in the USA, with the bulk in North Carolina (24), the Virginias (24), Kentucky (23), New England (16) and Tennessee (9). In Canada, 18 versions were found, the majority in Nova Scotia. Scotland produced 9 versions, and England; only 2.'  Wikipedia

In this post, we share a variety of musical versions of this song.

The Ballad of Little Musgrave

We've blogged about the Musgrave family's surname; their castles, their treasures and their legacy. We've explored their Border-Reiver heritage.

Ancient ruins and the Luck of Edenhall are the physical remains of the Musgrave clan. The Border-Reivers left their legacy on our language with the phrases 'Blackmail' and 'Red Handed.' But the real legacy of the border-reivers is their ballads.

This post is about The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard.

The Musgraves: Border Reiver Clan

What do Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, Billy Graham, and Neil Armstrong - the first man on the moon - have in common with the Musgroves? We all come from families along the English/Scottish border. These clan members were known as Border-Reivers.

L to R: Lyndon Johnson,
Richard Nixon and Billy Graham

Musgrave: Distinguished Surname

Our name, Musgrove, was originally Musgrave.

"This distinguished surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and a locational name deriving from a pair of villages near Kirkby Stephen in Westmorland, called Great and Little Musgrave." Surname Database

This post follows our Musgrove family's journey and what remains of their landmarks.

Elizabeth (Bryan) Musgrove

Elizabeth (Bryan) Musgrove is our third great-grandmother* (see relationship notes below). She had three sons: John 'David,' Charles, and James Musgrove. Her middle child died in 1915.

"Charles 'Charley' H. Musgrove was born in August of 1850 in either Baker or Ware County, Georgia. Charles is thought to be the son of James W. Musgrove and Elizabeth Bryan. He was the grandson of James Bryan (b. 1799) of Bladen County, North Carolina, and the great grandson of William and Sarah Bryan (Vol 5)." 

Folks Huxford "Pioneers of Wiregrass, Georgia" Vol 12, page 350.

This is what we know of her story.

John Collins Meets Larkin Musgrove

Richard Graham Musgrove
1923-2016

Our family history is recorded in Richard Graham Musgrove's book "The American Family Musgrove." In 1993, on page 725 of his book, the author wrote of our family line:

"James Walter Musgrove, Sr. has been reported by descendants to have come from Baker County, Georgia. However, I have been unable to tie him back to one of the many Musgrove families from that area."

Until now, we'd no clue how our family's line became Musgroves. There was no known point of contact between Elizabeth (Bryan) Musgrove - James Walters' supposed wife - and any other known Musgrove.

This post tells the story of a meeting between John Forbes Collins - our third great grandfather* (see relationship notes below) - and Larkin Cuthbert Musgrove of Baker County, Georgia.

Musgroves in War: Letters Home

Melvin Musgrove
Viet Nam 1968

Our last blog was about Joshua John Musgrove and included a letter home from a Confederate camp in Virginia during the Civil War. Joshua had five young children back at home.

Your humble family historian was an Army brat. My father, Melvin Musgrove, served two tours of duty in Viet Nam. In the days before cellphones and Skype, letters were the only communication between soldiers and their families.

Soldiers deployed in active locations were sometimes barred from writing for months at a time. These times were scary for Mom, though she didn't tell us kids at the time. The soldiers also were careful about what they wrote home. They usually spared their families the gruesome details. From this perspective, we present the entire article by Earl 'Tige' Pickle that contained the very young Joshua John Musgrove's letter home.

Joshua Musgrove: Scalawag

On the morning of December 21, 1862, in camp near Franklin, Virginia, young Confederate soldier William Jordan wrote to his wife - the mother of his five young children,

 

"I this morning seat myself to inform you that I am well only I got my arm hurt in a row the other day. Hoping these few lines reach you safe and find you and the children all right. 

We got in a fight the other day and the Yankeys got Josh Musgrove, Little Bill Jordan and James Smith, Herman Chain, Elisha Harrison, Abi Dias, Wood Richardson, Albert Gladden all Prisoners. None killed as we know of."   

John Collins: Florida Pioneer

"The First Seminole War...is generally dated to 1817–18 and that led Spain to cede Florida to the United States."  

Encyclopedia Britannica

Florida historian and author Dale Cox wrote one book we've already referenced; The History Of Jackson County, Florida: The Early Years. 

Aliff (Butler) Collins: Woman Scorned

"John F. Collins and Adelph Butler (Ed. note: should be Dixon) were the parents of Elizabeth Collins." 

American Family Musgrove - Richard Graham Musgrove -  page 734

Musgrove family historian, Richard Graham Musgrove, mis-spelled our third great grandmother's* (see relationship notes below) name in his book, The American Family Musgrove.

Finding Lucy (Williams) Leverette

Our second great grandmother* (see relationship note below), Lucy Williams, was born on February 3, 1867. 

John and Lucy (Williams) Leverett

Her first child was our great grandmother Macy Carol (Williams) Musgrove, born in 1889 in Pierce County, Georgia. (Grandma Lucy was an unwed mother. Rumors swirled that a Strickland boy was the father.) She married John Leverett on March 22, 1894. 

This post is to present evidence she was the daughter of Confederate soldier John and Nancy (Bowen) Williams, from Bulloch County, Georgia.

Mary Jane (Williams) Merritt

Our great grandmother,* (see relationship notes; the bottom of page) Mary Jane (Williams) Merritt, was born on February 4, 1867, in Pearson, Georgia when her father, Allen Raymond Williams, was forty years old and her mother, Sarah (Parker) Williams, was twenty-four.

Sarah (Parker) holding Mary Jane Williams
Allen Raymond holding Calvin GW Williams

Henry Merritt: Train Conductor

Our great grandfather, George 'Henry' Merritt, was born in the Okefenokee Swamp on March 23, 1867. His father was former Union soldier George Leonard Merritt from Connecticut. His mother was Lydia (Stewart) Webb, the widow of a Confederate soldier.

Henry Merritt

John Musgrove: Grandson of Cuthbert

Our Georgia Musgrove family shares a surname with the 'Pocahontas of the South'; Mary Musgrove. Her husband, John Musgrove, was the first to welcome James Oglethorpe to what would become the new colony of Georgia.

Mary Musgrove was a Creek Indian. John Musgrove, Jr.'s mother was Cherokee. His father was a South Carolina Indian trader and mediator to the colonists. John and Mary married in 1715 as part of peace negotiations. All their offspring died in childhood.

St Cuthbert's Church
Edenhall, England

George Leonard Merritt: The Yankee in the Swamp

We began our family research looking for an Indian.  Rumor had it our grandmother, Carrie "Mae" (Merritt) Musgrove *was one-quarter Native American and her father was born in the Okefenokee Swamp. 

Carrie "Mae" (Merritt) Musgrove

Henry Merritt: Amazon Cousins

"The Henry Merritt is the same George Henry Merritt to which you referred. ...All my records show that this Lydia A. Stewart Webb was the daughter of my great-great grandfather, Gordon S. Stewart."

E-Mail from William Stewart