“Beautiful Dreamer” was submitted for copyright deposit on March 10, 1864, by Wm. A. Pond & Co. of New York. 

The original title page claims that “Beautiful Dreamer” was “the last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster” (who died January 13, 1864) is dubious. Although the plate number fits Pond’s numbering scheme for 1864, the song had already been mentioned on the cover of “Willie Has Gone to War,” which was entered for copyright on July 1, 1863. Furthermore, the copyright claim at the bottom of page 3 has been altered; its date seems to have read originally “AD. 1862,” and the overlarge typeface used for the words “W. A. Pond & Co.” occupies exactly the space needed to accompany the name of Firth, Pond, & Co. (William Pond was a partner in Firth, Pond & Col, which dissolved in January 1863. It is very likely Firth, Pond & Co. prepared the plates for “Beautiful Dreamer” in 1862, but never issued it.

According to Evelyn Foster Morneweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen C. Foster's Family:

The story of his last days is a sad one and a lonely one, but it is not a sordid one. He struggled along writing when he could. William A. Pond, who published one of Stephen’s finest songs, “Beautiful Dreamer,” in 1864, stated on the title page that it was the “last song ever written by Stephen C. Foster. Composed but a few days previous to his death.” Nevertheless, it is listed amongst his compositions on the cover of “Willie Has Gone to the War,” which was copyrighted in July, 1863! But, undoubtedly, “Beautiful Dreamer” was one of Stephen’s last compositions. Words and music are both his own, and they blend in a way that only Stephen Foster could fit melody and poetry. The last flash of Stephen’s genius was an expression of happy love, of starlight and dewdrops, sea breezes, and the sweetness of a summer night.