Bill Mason started out as a printed poem, "Bill Mason's Bride", circa 1870. It is usually credited to Bret Harte (1837-1902), although it's nowhere in his published works or private papers. Between 1880 and 1900, it appeared in at least 3 books of published recitation anthologies. At some point, someone set the poem to music, greatly improving it by eliminating unnecessary material. Roy Harvey (?-1958), a member of the North Carolina Ramblers, probably learned it when he worked as a railroad engineer before he started a musical career. He recorded it in 1927. It was also recorded by the North Carolina Ramblers in 1929, this time with Charlie Poole (1892-1931) singing. I learned from the recording of Peter Siegel and John Cohen on The Old Time Banjo Project, Elektra EKL 276.