Stephen Foster, American songwriter and composer (d. 1864)
Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826 – January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer and songwriter known primarily for his parlour and minstrel music during the Romantic period . He wrote more than 200 songs, including "Oh! Susanna", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home" ("Swanee River"), "My Old Kentucky Home", "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", "Old Black Joe", and "Beautiful Dreamer", and many of his compositions remain popular today. He has been identified as "the most famous songwriter of the nineteenth century" and may be the most recognizable American composer in other countries. Most of his handwritten music manuscripts are lost, but editions issued by publishers of his day feature in various collections.