The American composer Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864) was one of the first professional songwriters in the country, and his minstrel tunes, particularly, were among the most successful songs of the era just before the Civil War.

Stephen Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pa., near Pittsburgh, on July 4, 1826. His father had settled in Pittsburgh when it was still a frontier settlement; later he became a successful businessman. Stephen's mother was the daughter of an aristocratic family from Delaware. The youngest of the children, Stephen was loved by his family, who nevertheless failed to understand either his artistic temperament or his dreaming, indolent ways. The boy attended schools around Pittsburgh and Allegheny and later enrolled in the academies at Athens and Towanda. But he was interested neither in schooling nor in business. He tried a number of occupations, but none with much enthusiasm.

Young Composer

Stephen early displayed a musical...