BALLAD OF STILLER BEN - Song Page
© words & music by Annie Wilson
from CD Tallgrass Express Comes Back
Album Note: This is the true story of my great-great-great-great-great grandfather - who perished at the hand of river pirates in the Kentucky frontier, while attempting to market his "value-added" corn. Interestingly, one of the men who helped him build his raft was neighbor Peter Sibert, best man at the marriage of Abe Lincoln's parents in 1806. Like many Flint Hills families, ours has roots in nearby states to the east - Missouri and before that Kentucky.
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LYRICS:
Stiller Ben grew his corn in the bluegrass meadow lands
In Pleasant Run, Kentucky ‘tween the oak and hickory stands
In the year of eighteen-nineteen at the age of forty-four
He staked his life and all he had to give his family more
There were no towns or markets in that fertile land so wild
To make life better for his children--ten and wife with child
The only way to sell his corn was ride the waters down
To the Ohio and Mississip’ on to New Orleans town
Through whirlpools, snags and storms
His craft must float through clear
But the gangs of river pirates
Was the threat they most did fear
He turned his corn to whiskey so in barrels it would ride
For barrels float in case his boat would take a turn too wide
He found a crew of four to help him build and steer his raft
A tiny cabin was their only shelter on that craft
They loaded up the boat on their small creek of Pleasant Run
And waited anxious for the flooding rains of spring to come
To lift their raft and float it down the creek and on beyond
For three months on the rivers and down to New Orleans town
Nowhere to hide
On that flatboat river run
He must be wise to stay alive
And make his way back home
His wife was fraught with worry that her Ben should go away
And leave her with ten children and another on the way
But the big rains came, the men jjumped in, she kissed her Ben goodbye
And prayed with all her might naught on this trip should go awry
She did not hear until the fall when maple trees turn red
That pirates on the Ohio had killed her dear Ben dead
The raft, the whiskey, all her love, forever would be gone
Her children’s father and his dreams had left her there alone
Stiller Ben grew his corn
In the bluegrass meadow lands
In Pleasant Run, Kentucky
‘Neath the oak and hickory stands