"On Springfield Mountain" or "Springfield Mountain" is an American ballad which recounts the tragic death of a young man who is bitten by a rattlesnake while mowing a field. Historically, the song refers to the death of Timothy Merrick, who was recorded to have died on August 7, 1761 in Wilbraham, Massachusetts by snakebite. It is commonly included in collections of American folksong, and is one of the earliest known American ballads. The ballad has been cited as representative of elegiac verse tradition which later gained status as folklore throughout the United States. Due to its popularity, there exist many variations of the ballad and its narrative. Although the song is now accompanied by its own distinct melody, early performances of the ballad were sung to other airs, including "Old Hundredth" and "Merrily Danced the Quaker's Wife".
Historical basis
Timothy Merrick was born on May 24, 1739 to Lieutenant Thomas Merrick and his wife, Mary. As the story goes, at the age of 22, Timothy Merrick was engaged to be married to his village sweetheart, Sarah Lamb. However, on August 7, 1761, prior to their wedding day, Timothy Merrick set out to mow his father's field and was bitten by a rattlesnake, dying shortly thereafter. Research efforts by several local historians have uncovered further biographical and historical context surrounding the incident. Charles Merrick claimed Wilbraham, Massachusetts to be the site of the 1761 snakebite fatality. However, the neighboring town of Hampden, Massachusetts also holds a claim to the song's place of origin: the actual farmland where Timothy Merrick was bitten and died was located on the Hampden side of the modern town line, although prior to 1878 Hampden was known as South Wilbraham and considered part of Wilbraham. Chauncey Peck's 1913 History of Wilbraham relates that it occurred "70 to 90 rods southwest of the boy's home," placing it within current-day Hampden borders. A 1761 record of the Wilbraham town clerk includes a short record of the incident, reading "Lieut Thomas Mirick's only Son dyed, August 7th, 1761, By the Bite of a Ratle Snake, Being 22 years, two months and three days old, and very nigh marridge." Given the rarity of venmous snakes in the region, a 1982 Springfield Union article suggested that Merrick's death was the last recorded snakebite casualty in Massachusetts. However, a reference to another man found to have been killed by a serpent on May 1, 1778 was later discovered by William Meuse in the Wilbraham death records. There exists some disagreement among folklorists with regards to the ballad's lyrics. Scholar Phillips Barry did not believe the ballad to predate 1825; Tristram Coffin later rejected this claim as short-sighted, and held that the ballad might be derived from older elegiac verse about the incident. Other authors note that no written versions were found until 1836.
Variants and adaptations
The events related in the lyrics have been adapted outside of song, including stage performances and other ballads that include embellished details of the event. Alternative titles include "Ballad of Springfield Mountain", "The Springfield Ballad", "On Springfield Mountains", "The Pizing Sarpent", "The Pesky Sarpent", "Stuttering Song", "The Story of Timothy Mirick", and "Elegy on a/the Young Man Bitten by a Rattlesnake". In variations which feature the character Timothy Mettick, his name is occasionally spelled "Mirick" or "Myrick". One "entirely serious" version was recorded by George Brown from Mr. Josiah S. Kennison of Townshend, Vermont, and published in Vermont Folk-Songs & Ballads in 1931.
Lyrical variations
Stebbins version
This variant was reported by Rufus Stebbins' Historical Address during the Wilbraham Centennial Celebration of 1863, p. 206. Stebbins, whose family later owned the farm land where the incident is believed to have occurred, asserts that this version is likely the true original exactly as penned by "probable author" Nathan Torrey, but that the lyrics had since been "tampered with" by other authors. "Elegy on the Young Man Bitten by a Rattlesnake" On Springfield Mountain there did dwell A likely youth was knowne full well Lieutenant Mirick onley son A likely youth nigh twenty-one One Friday morning he did go Into the medow and did mow A round or two then he did feel A pisin sarpent at his heel. When he received his dedly wond He dropt his sithe a pon the ground And strate for home wase his intent Caling aloude stil as he went Tho all around his voys was hered But none of his friends to him apiere They thot it wase some workmen calld And there poor Timothy alone must fall So soon his Carful father went To seek his son with discontent And there his fond onley son he found Ded as a stone a pon the ground And there he lay down sopose to rest With both his hands Acrost his brest His mouth and eyes closed fast And there poor man he slept his last His father vieude his track with great consarn Where he had ran across the corn Uneven tracks where he did go Did apear to stagger to and frou The seventh of August sixty one This fatal axsident was done Let this a warning be to all To be Prepared when God does call.
"Molly type" version
In one variation of the ballad published in Flanders's The New Green Mountain Songster and collected by C.M. Cobb, it is sung with melisma on the last syllable of each verse, which is drawn out over two nonsense diphthongs vowels. In addition, this variation features a four-bar refrain at the end of each verse. This later development of the ballad uses characters Tommy Blake and Molly Bland in place of Timothy and Sarah. Molly attempts to suck out the poison and dies in the process.
