Wise

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Omie Wise

Omie Wise or Naomi Wise (1789–1808) was an American murder victim, who is remembered by a popular murder ballad about her death.

Song

Omie Wise's death became the subject of a traditional American ballad. (Roud 447) One version opens:

In accordance with the broadside ballad tradition, lyrics to the original version of the song were written shortly after the murder itself; a 19th-century version of the ballad text has recently been discovered. The first recorded version of the song was performed by G. B. Grayson, who recorded the song in 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia. The first person to record the song under the title "Naomi Wise" was Vernon Dalhart, who did so on November 24, 1925.

The song is thematically related to other American murder ballads such as "Banks of the Ohio" and "The Knoxville Girl". Each of these songs relates the tale of a woman murdered by her lover, who then disposed of her body in a river.

The song has been performed by Doc Watson, who learned the song from his mother. Watson relates that "Naomi Wise, a little orphan girl, was being brought up by Squire Adams, a gent who had a pretty good name in the community as a morally decent human being. Omie, however, was seeing a ne'er-do-well named John Lewis, who never meant anything about anything serious, except some of his meanness. John Lewis courted the girl, seemingly until she became pregnant, and he decided that he'd get rid of her in some secret sort of way. He persuaded her to skip off with him and get married, then pushed her into the water and drowned her. Everyone knew that he had been mean to Omie, and when the body was taken out of the water, there was evidence that she had been beaten quite a lot."