This is number F4 in the "Murder Ballads" section of G. Malcolm Laws's Native American Balladry (1950; 1964) under the titles "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)." It has been found under these and other titles in virtually all southern states, as well as in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Utah. Some singers have placed the murder location in Indiana, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and The Ozarks, but North Carolina is the true home of the incident.
The murder of 19-year-old Naomi Wise occurred in Deep River, Randolph County, in what was believed to be 1808. Writings about the event tell us that the alleged perpetrator, Jonathan Lewis, was arrested and escaped jail, and in 1815 was re-captured, tried and acquitted. He was also believed by some to have confessed to the murder a few years later on his deathbed. Details of these incidents appeared in the January and February 1851 issues of Evergreen and later publications as authored by Braxton Craven, then president of Trinity College (the precursor of Duke University).
The Frank C. Brown collection quotes extensively from a 1874 version of Craven's account, and it forms the historical background for Richard Williams's "'Omie Wise': A Cultural Perspective," Kentucky Folklore Record, vol. 23, no. 1, Jan.-Mar. 1977. However, Robert Roote refutes many of Craven's facts by quoting extensively from Randolph County records in his article "The Historical Events Behind the Celebrated Ballad 'Naomi Wise'," North Carolina Folklore Journal, vol. 32, no. 2, Fall-Winter 1984, including the fact that the murder and initial court proceedings took place in 1807, not 1808. An 88-page study by Eleanor R. Long- Wilgus, "Naomi Wise: Creation, Re-creation, and Continuity in an American Ballad Tradition", is listed for publication by Chapel Hill Press in 2003.
A totally different "Naomi Wise" was penned by Carson J. Robison and recorded six times for ten different labels between 11/24/25 and 2/3/26 by Vernon Dalhart. This new piece became to be regarded as traditional but is not as widespread as the earlier ballad.
Peggy learned her version from a recording of the Ashe County master singer/banjoist Clarence "Tom" Ashley (1895-1967). (For information on Ashley, including the various forms of his name, see www.clarenceashley.com.) He recorded "Naomi Wise" in 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee, with an April 1930 release on Columbia 15522-D. This in turn was recently reissued on County 3520, Greenback Dollar. A 1962 taping by Mike Seeger and Ralph Rinzler appeared as "Poor Omie" on Folkways FA 2359, Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's Part II (reissued as Smithsonian Folkways SF 40030). Transcriptions appeared as "Omie Wise" in Sing Out!, vol. 14, no. 2, Apr.-May 1964, and in Reprints from Sing Out, vol. 10, 1967. An April 1966 performance is transcribed as "Omy Wise" in Thomas G. Burton's Collection of Folklore: Folksongs (Johnson City: East Tenn. State Univ., 1967) and as "Omie Wise" in Ambrose N. Manning and Minnie M. Miller's essay "Tom Ashley" which appears in Tom Ashley, Sam McGee, Bukka White: Tennessee Traditional Singers (Knoxville: Univ. of Tenn. Press, 1981).
5-string BANJO TUNING: sung in the key of D; tuning: high A, low D, low A, C, D)
lyrics
I'll sing you the story of little Oma Wise
How she was deluded by John Lewis's lies.
He promised to meet her at Adams's Spring
Said he'd bring her some money and some other fine thing.
He brought her no money but he flattered her case,
Said, We'll go and get married, there'll be no disgrace.
So hop up behind me and away we will ride,
We'll go and get married and you'll be my bride.
She got up behind him and away they did go
Riding down to that river where deep water flow.
John Lewis, John Lewis, tell me your mind,
Is your mind for to marry me or leave me behind?
Little Oma, Little Oma, I'll tell you my mind,
My mind is to kill you and leave you behind.
O pity, pity, spare me my life!
And I'll go a-beggin', I won't never be your wife.
No pity, no pity, I won't spare your life,
You won't go a-beggin', nor you won't be my wife.
He hugged her, he kissed her and turned her around
Throwed her in the river where he knowed she would drown.
The people all come from the city and town,
They're coming to that place where little Oma was drowned.
They sent for John Lewis to come to that place,
They set her up before him so he could see her face.
They took him to the jailhouse and locked him inside,
You know, he would not have been there if he had not killed his bride.
From window to window, slowly he go,
Looking down to that river where deep water flow.
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