This tune appears in a number of other collections from the early 1800s. It is the melody of a song of the same name by English popular composer James Hook (1746-1827) The Ash family came from New York State to Hamilton Township before the year 1797. They were among the first settlers to take up land in Hamilton Township, to the east of Cobourg. Allen Ash was born in Hamilton Township in 1800, and is reported to be the second white child to be native of the township. He grew up to be a farmer, musician and inventor. He died in 1889. Ash played the violin and also built a number of fiddles as well as a hammered dulcimer. One of his heavily decorated fiddles was discovered hanging on a wall in a café on Manitoulin Island by Oliver Schroer in the 1990s.