Before continuing on his journey to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, In the summer of 1791, young Francis was at home when President George Washington (1732–1799 served 1789–97 see entry in volume 2) stopped at Terra Rubra to visit John Ross Key. Ann taught Francis and his sister to read at an early age and often had the children read aloud from the family Bible.Īt the age of ten, Francis began his formal education at a grammar school in Annapolis, Maryland. John Ross Key was an officer serving in the Continental Army when his son Francis wasīorn in 1779 at the height of the American Revolution (1775–83). She was a devout Christian who was both generous and hospitable. Francis's mother was Ann Phoebe Penn Dagworthy Charlton, a well-educated woman from a wealthy family. "O! say can you see by the dawn's early light, / What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, / Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, / O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?" Francis Scott Key, from "The Star-Spangled Banner" Exposure to notable figuresįrancis Scott Key was born in Frederick County, Maryland, at Terra Rubra, his family's estate, named for the red earth on which it stood. As the author of the American national anthem, Francis Scott Key has numerous monuments and landmarks dedicated to his memory. attorney for the District of Columbia between 18.
Key was not a professional poet but rather a lawyer who later served as U.S. Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the national anthem of the United States, the now-famous song called "The Star-Spangled Banner." Written in September 1814 during the Battle of Baltimore, the song was officially signed into law as the nation's anthem by President Herbert Hoover (1874–1964 served 1929–33) on March 3, 1931.