‘Father Of American Music’ Foster came from Lawrenceville
Stephen Collins Foster was born on the Fourth of July 1826 — the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence — in what’s now the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and grew up in “The White Cottage” along Penn Avenue.
The home is no longer there, but fans and tourists can find a historical marker.
Foster was the son of William Barclay Foster, who was a prosperous merchant, three-term state legislator and a two-time former mayor of Allegheny City, which is now part of Pittsburgh as well. His mother was aristocrat and early Pittsburgh settler Eliza Clayland Tomlinson Foster. Stephen was the youngest of 10 children in the family.
The Foster children were able to attend private academies. Stephen enjoyed music early in life and as a result, taught himself to play a variety of instruments, including the clarinet, guitar, flute and piano. His penchant for music inspired Foster’s brother William to connect Stephen with prominent Pittsburgh musician and teacher Henry Kleber. That’s where Stephen first learned about the masters, like Mozart, and Schubert. It was here where Foster laid the groundwork to become the “Father of American Music.”
Foster's earliest composition was the peppy piano piece “The Tioga Waltz,” written in 1840 when he was just 14. The first published song with lyrics based on a poem he read and dedicated to childhood friend, inspiration and singer Sue Pentland, aka Susan E. Robinson in Pittsburgh was “Open thy Lattice Love” in 1844.
At 20, Foster moved to Cincinnati to work as a bookkeeper in his brother’s steamship company. Over the next few years, Foster would write and publish a number of songs, like “There’s a Good Time Coming,” Lou'siana Belle” and “Away Down South.”
But it was 1848 when Foster’s life would change with “Oh! Susanna.”
Considered to be among the most popular American songs ever written, the song was written and performed by Blackface minstrel troupes in Pittsburgh in 1847. The song was released in 1848. At the time, no song had ever sold more than 5,000 copies.
“Oh, Susanna” sold more than 100,000 copies.
In those days, the music industry did not treat artists well, which meant that Foster, who constantly heard music throughout his life, had to put pen to paper. Although “Oh, Susanna” sold well, he did not prosper from it.
Foster oftentimes spent time with the John Woods family in Pittsburgh’s Hazelwood neighborhood. In 1849, he performed the folk favorite “Camptown Races” and other songs at the Woods House and saw Black housekeeper Nelly Brown enjoying herself from a stairwell. Foster reportedly took to the lady, who he name-dropped in a couple of future songs, including 1850s popular “Nelly Bly.” Fellow musician and writer Harold Vincent Milligan called it one of the few “happy songs” Foster wrote.
(Some 21 years after Foster’s death, the editor of the Pittsburgh Dispatch would grab — and slightly change the spelling of the name — for Pittsburgh’s Elizabeth Cochrane’s new journalistic exploits. Most recently, Nellie Bly was honored among the first 10 inductees into Pittsburgh’s brand new “Walk of Fame.”)
Author Ken Emerson called the song “Nelly Bly” one that “anticipates the joys of marriage and housekeeping” with a “merry, nursery-rhyme charm.”
Foster was romantically linked with Jane Denny McDowell, the daughter of influential Pittsburgh physician Andrew Nathan McDowell. Foster and McDowell were married in July 1850 and went on an extended honeymoon to central and eastern Pennsylvania, New York and Baltimore. Biographers believe some of the stops along the way were business meetings with music publishers. At this point, they had relocated to Pittsburgh.
The year 1851 was busy for Foster. He and Jane welcomed their only child, Marion Foster Welch. Marion was a musician in her own right who would go on to be a great caretaker for her father’s estate and copyright. She was also on hand when the Stephen Foster Memorial in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood was unveiled.
In fast succession, Foster released “Old Folks at Home,” also known as “Swanee River.” He wrote several others over the next few years, including 1853’s “My Old Kentucky Home.” Observers believe that “Kentucky Home” was likely inspired by Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.
“Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair” — a parlor song ode to Jane — was released in 1854 as the couple had separated.
The output on Foster’s minstrel songs slowed down, so he turned to parlor music, which was usually performed in homes and smaller venues. All told, Foster composed between 200-300 songs. It’s interesting to note that while many of his songs had “southern themes,” Foster had only been to the South once, to Baltimore for their honeymoon.
By 1864, Foster had moved to New York. He reportedly got sick, fell and cut open his neck. He died on Jan. 13 at the age of 37. Foster was buried in the Allegheny Cemetery in Lawrenceville.
Foster’s musical influence has never been in doubt. There have been countless changes to Foster’s music from other artists. From the Honeymooners to The Lucy Show and The Rockey and Bullwinkle Show, Foster’s reach has been everywhere. Marion was a dutiful curator of her father’s affairs until her death in 1935 at 84.
In Pittsburgh, a public sculpture honoring Foster and his song “Old Uncle Ned” sat near the Stephen Foster Memorial in Schenley Park from 1900 until 2018. Some were offended by the banjo-playing slave and other alleged racist imagery. Pressure from then-Mayor Bill Peduto and the city’s Art Commission led workers to remove the statue. In 2018, the 800-pound Stephen Collins Foster statue was lifted by a crane and ultimately loaded onto a flatbed and never publicly seen again.
Foster has earned other notices and awards from all over the country and world. The Allegheny Cemetery Historical Association hosts the annual Stephen Foster Music and Heritage Festival (Doo Dah Days!). His music has been used for countless other projects, which all stemmed from a white cottage in Lawrenceville.
