Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 of the 19th century. His songs — such as "Oh! Susanna

Oh! Susanna

"Oh! Susanna" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster . It was published by W. C. Peters & Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1848. The song was introduced by a local quintette at a concert in Andrews' Eagle Ice Cream Saloon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 11, 1847. Foster was said to have written...

", "Camptown Races

Camptown Races

Gwine to Run All Night, or De Camptown Races is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster . It was probably composed in Cincinnati in 1849, according to Richard Jackson, and published by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore, Maryland, in February 1850...

", "Old Folks at Home

Old Folks at Home

"Old Folks at Home" is a minstrel song written by Stephen Foster in 1851. It was intended to be performed by the New York blackface troupe Christy's Minstrels. E. P. Christy, the troupe's leader, appears on early printings of the sheet music as the song's creator...

" ("Swanee River"), "Hard Times Come Again No More

Hard Times Come Again No More

"Hard Times Come Again No More," is a parlor song by Stephen Foster. It was published in New York by Firth, Pond & Co. in 1854 as Foster's Melodies No. 28...

", "My Old Kentucky Home

My Old Kentucky Home

"My Old Kentucky Home" is a minstrel song by Stephen Foster , probably composed in 1852. It was published as "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" in January 1853 by Firth, Pond, & Co. of New York...

", "Old Black Joe

Old Black Joe

"Old Black Joe" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1853. Ken Emerson, author of Doo-Dah!, indicates that Foster's fictional Joe was inspired by a servant in the home of his father-in-law, Dr. McDowell of Pittsburgh...

", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair

"Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published by Firth, Pond & Co. of New York in 1854. Foster wrote the song with his wife Jane McDowell in mind. "Jeanie" was a notorious beneficiary of the ASCAP boycott of 1941...

", and "Beautiful Dreamer

Beautiful Dreamer

"Beautiful Dreamer" is a parlor song by Stephen Foster . It was published posthumously in March 1864 by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York. The first edition declares on the title page that "Beautiful Dreamer" is "the last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster. Composed but a few days prior to his...

" — remain popular over 150 years after their composition.
Foster attended private academies in Allegheny

Allegheny, Pennsylvania

Allegheny City was a Pennsylvania municipality located on the north side of the junction of the Allegheny and Ohio rivers, across from downtown Pittsburgh. It was annexed by Pittsburgh in 1907...

, Athens

Athens, Pennsylvania

Athens is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, two miles south of the N. Y. State line on the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers. Population in 1900, 3,749; and in 1910, 3,796. The population was 3,415 at the 2000 census...

, and Towanda, Pennsylvania

Towanda, Pennsylvania

Towanda is a borough in and the county seat of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States, northwest of Wilkes Barre, on the Susquehanna River. The name means "burial ground" in the Algonquian language...

. He received an education in English grammar, diction, the classics, penmanship, Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 and Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

, and mathematics.