A sister of his had married a brother of James Buchanan.

There were two daughters of this marriage, nieces of the President, and when they were visiting the White House we had--shall I dare write it ?--high jinks with our nigger-minstrel concerts on the sly.
Will S.Hays, the rival of Foster as a song writer and one of my reporters on the Courier-Journal, told me this story: "Foster," said he, "was a good deal of what you might call a barroom loafer.

He possessed a sweet tenor voice before it was spoiled by drink, and was fond of music, though technically he knew nothing about it.

He had a German friend who when he died left him a musical scrapbook, of all sorts of odds and ends of original text.

There is where Foster got his melodies.