Mr. Lammikin- Negroes (VA) pre1890 Child
[My title. One stanza fragment from the "Additions and Corrections" section of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads: Volume 3 by Francis James Child, 1890, page 515.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
The negroes of Dumfries, Prince William County, Virginia, have this ballad, orally transmitted from the original Scottish settlers of that region, with the stanza found in F (19) and T (15):
Mr. Lammikin, Mr. Lammikin,
oh, spare me my life,
And I'll give you my daughter Betsy,
and she shall be your wife.
"They sang it to a monotonous measure." (Mrs. Dulany.)