Is anyone at the Citizen-Times editing copy? The headline is incorrect: "Well-known carol found it's origins in these hills." "It's" is a contraction for "it is," not the possesive.

The writer says the change from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar took place in 1582. Were there English-speaking, Protestant settlers "in these hills" in 1582?

Most sources give 1780 as the earliest printed version of the song's lyrics, in England. So how are "these hills" the origin of the song?