Nursery rhymes

Who wrote this trash? Seriously, where did they ever come from? I decided to go out and buy our first nursery rhyme book and was appalled after I read a few...here's a taster:

Goosey Goosey Gander:
Goosey Goosey Gander, whiter shall I wander?
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and through him down the stairs.

OK, where do I start? Where the child (or whomever 'I' is in the rhyme) is roaming around in this 'lady's chamber where he finds a creepy old man? Or where if I read this rhyme I would not only be guilting my child to say his prayers or I'd through him down the stairs?

Seriously?

How about Jack and Jill? Didn't Jack break his crown?

Didn't humpty dumpty fall down and die?

How about the baby in Rock-a-bye baby who fell down from the tree, cradle and all?

Or this from There was an old woman:

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread,
then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

Whipped them? Oh my.

Seriously?