Born Frederick, Maryland, August 1, 1779, U.S.

Educated at St. John's College, Annapolis.

Worked as an attorney, first in his home town, and then in Georgetown, in Washington, D.C.

Key had spent the night of September 13-14 on an American ship as the British shelled Baltimore.

He wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner," on an envelope as he was taken ashore.

He later revised it in his hotel after night fell.

His sister-in-law, Mrs. Joseph Hopper Nicholson, took it to a printer the next day.

After being published on handbills, the anthem was printed in the Baltimore American on September 21.

His poems were posthumously published in 1857.

Married to Mary Tayloe Lloyd in 1802, Key had 11 children.

He died on January 11, 1843.



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