memory chimes

"The earliest known version of the lyrics comes from 1755 or 1758, as the date of origin is disputed:^[18]

Brother Ephraim sold his Cow

And bought him a Commission;

And then he went to Canada

To fight for the Nation;

But when Ephraim he came home

He proved an arrant Coward,

He wouldn't fight the Frenchmen there

For fear of being devoured.

(Note that the sheet music which accompanies these lyrics reads, "The Words to be Sung through the Nose, & in the West Country drawl & dialect.") "

" The Ephraim referred to here was Ephraim Williams, a popularly known colonel in the Massachusetts militia who was killed in the Battle of Lake George. He left his land and property to the founding of a school in Western Massachusetts, now known as Williams College. "

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankee_Doodle

Beginnings of the Stockbrige-Munsee

"The Stockbridge-Munsee are descended from Algonkian-speaking Indians, primarily Mohicans (also spelled Mahican or Mahikan, but not to be confused with the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut) and Munsee Delawares, who migrated from New York, Pennsylvania, and New England to Wisconsin in the 1820s and 1830s. "

https://www.mpm.edu/wirp/ICW-158.html

" 1737 Ephraim Sr. and his wife and children are selected as one of four white families to settle at the Indian mission in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, to which they move in June 1738. These colonists are to serve as neighbors and exemplars for the families of Housatonic Indians who had gathered together in 1734 under the missionary John Sergeant (1710-1749). "

http://archives.williams.edu/founding/ewilliams.php

ephraim williams jr makes out his will in albany:

1755:

'Shortly after arriving at the military rendezvous in Albany, Ephraim Jr. learns of the defeat of General Edward Braddock on the Monongahela River. Comprehending the seriousness of the campaign ahead of him, he completes a new will on July 22nd and mails it to Israel Williams. In it, he leaves the remainder of his estate, following bequests to family members, to establish and maintain a free school in the township west of Fort Massachusetts, the future Williamstown. He probably had in mind a village school offering instruction at the most elementary level.'

yankke doodle's first verse is written in upstate new york the same year