Many thanks to S Furrey for his kind words and his enlightening comments on
England's balladry, English-language balladry, balladry in general,
folksongs and dancing. They were most useful and thought provoking. And
corrective: I had a slight idea that the Sussex folk would sing in group -
they are so social down there. :) And yes, I agree, a "refrain" must be the
place to look for the community singing...

Many thanks to to K Batey, of Northwestern University, for her useful lead,
and to D A Duncan, of Cambridge, Mass., for his interesting, first-hand
comments! (He is from J F Child's country!)

He writes: 

   "Several of us have wondered if there's a good biography 
   of him around. Can anyone comment?"

Well, you would not be expecting J L to be the one to comment, but then, I
did a visit to the site, mentioned by Batey, which you must know by heart.
An excellent site created by Leslie Nelson. The specific biographical page
is found at

http://www.contemplator.com/history/childbio.html

Unfortunately, I may say it's not specific enough as to what I was
interested in, i.e. his real English connection (as per with England), such
as which authors he corresponded in England with, or as to whether he spent
much time in England; which libraries in England he did consult
(Incidentally, I heartily agree with Duncan that Percy must be England's
equivalent to Child); whether he did any first-hand (field study, as it
were) research into balladry (as Sharp did), etc. Yes, I know I should get a
copy of the Dover edition of his book, and maybe search further on the net.
Nelson's bio included some helpful bibliographical references which I'm
providing below. Here is a synopsis of Nelson's bio.

In memoriam: F J Child. Born in Boston, Feb 1 1825. Died in Boston, Sep 11 1896.

"F J Child's 5-volume work "The English & Scottish Popular Ballads (1898) is
considered the "canon" of folk music, and consists of an exhaustive research
on 305 ballads. Unlike earlier scholars, his research focused primarily on
MSS rather than printed versions, and on the lyrics rather than the music
(He provides melody lines for only 50 ballads). His work owed debts to
numerous scholars. 

A NEW ENGLAND EDUCATION
He was he son of a Boston sail maker, his family was poor. He attended
Boston Grammar School and the English High School. It was only through the
generosity of a E S Dixwell, Principal of the Boston Latin School, who
recognised his genius, that he was able to enter Harvard, where he was
elected as class orator, graduating in 1846. 

A PASSION FOR BALLADRY.
A loan from J I Bowditch enabled him to take a leave from teaching duties
from 1849-51 to study English philology. He was an avid collector of ballad
books and corresponded with many scholars throughout the world on the topic.
It was through his efforts that the Harvard library comes to house one of
the largest folklore collections in existence. [as Duncan confirms]. Married
to Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick, he had 3 daughters and one son, and was
described as a man of charm and humour. At the time of his death he was
completing the last volume of his opus magnum. The intro and biblio were not
complete. The biblio was in preparation, but the notes he had made for his
intro were insufficient to complete. 

HIS LASTING HERITAGE.
Child's English & Scottish Popular Ballads remains the standard all other
works are measured by. His exhaustive research and attention to detail are
remarkable. His work inspired succeeding generations and continues to do so
today. And while Child's work is of interest to ballad scholars, it is not
solely their province. His book is no less interesting or valuable to
hobbyists and musicians. It is a unique work that endures and inspires
people from all occupations and those both with and without musical talent. 

REFERENCES: 
CHEESMAN, T. & S RIEUWERTS, eds. Ballads into Books: The Legacies of F J
Child. Berne, Switzerland: Peter Lang Academic Publishers. Includes a
biographical essay by S Riewerts entitled, 'In memoriam: Francis James Child
(1825-1896)'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. Essay on J F Child.
  Found online at
  http://www.eb.com:195/bol/topic?eu=24425&sctn=1"
  [haven't yet visited it. JLS]
KITTREDGE, G. L. ed. of J F Child, The English & Scottish Popular Ballads.
Dover Publications.
                                        (c) L Nelson

Best,

J Luigi ("J L") Speranza
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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