“I Would Not Die in Summer Time” was submitted for copyright deposit on July 12, 1851 by F. D. Benteen of Baltimore.

According to Evelyn Foster Mornweck’s The Chronicles of Stephen Foster’s Family:

On October 15, 1850, F. D. Benteen copyrighted a song of Stephen’s, “I Would Not Die in Spring Time,” under the pen name, Milton Moore, that Stephen occasionally assumed. This gave Stephen an opportunity almost a year later to produce under his real name “An Answer to the New and Beautiful Song, I Would Not Die in Spring Time,” entitled “I Would Not Die in Summer Time.” This was copyrighted by Benteen on July 12, 1851. Another reply to “I Would Not Die in Spring Time” was copyrighted by Lee & Walker, on June 17, 1851, with “Words by Wm. H. Cunnington, Music by J. H. Milton” (which sounds faintly familiar), called “I Would Not Die in Winter.” This comedy of reluctance at passing away ended the following January when John H. Hewitt composed a parody on the trio and called it “I Would Not Die at All”!