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From The Christmas Carol Reader, by William Studwell:
"Up on the Housetop" may well have been the first American song of importance which elaborates on the theme on Santa Claus. It also is one of the first entirely secular Christmas songs composed in the United States. Written by little-known Benjamin R. Hanby (1833-1867), sometime in the 1850s or 1860s , and probably in Ohio, this vivacious song could possibly predate the early secular classic, "Jingle Bells" (1857). The best estimate, though, is that Hanby's song was created in the 1860s.
Hanby's life was short, less than 35 years. Yet he did manage to contribute this bouncy song, which is an especial favorite of children, to the enduring literature of the holiday. Furthermore, he may possibly have composed another popular carol, "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas" which is of roughly the same period and which has a suspiciously similar style of music and lyrics. There is absolutely no evidence that Hanby was responsible for the other song, yet the chronological and stylistic coincidences, plus the total anonymity of "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas," do elicit the conjecture that Hanby might have authored both songs. At the least, Hanby's "Up on the Housetop" may have influenced "Jolly Old Saint Nicholas."
