Watts, Sue Campbell, 1897-1968

In the mid-19th century, members of the William B. Jones family of Alexander County, N.C., began exchanging song ballets or copies of the words of songs they knew. They continued this tradition into the early 20th century. One of the most prolific of the original transcribers of ballads was Ruth Emaline Jones Barnes (1834-1924), daughter of William B. Jones.

Many of the Jones family's transcriptions of popular ballads were collected by Ruth E. Jones Barnes's granddaughter, Sue Campbell Watts (1897-1968). Watts's interest in ballads was stimulated by a class she took at Salem College in 1914 in which E. L. Starr asked his students to find old ballads. Watts contributed a transcription of Jimmy and Nancy from her grandmother's collection, a ballad previously uncollected in America by folklorists. Articles concerning this discovery are available in the control file.

During the last two years of her life, Watts corresponded with Daniel W. Patterson, professor of folklore at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.