By 1857 financial matters reached a crisis; so Stephen drew up a list of what each of his songs had earned, and then estimated what each of them should bring him in the future. He figured that the thirty-six songs Fifth, Pond and Company had on royalty were worth $2,786.77, and he offered to see his future rights in those songs for that amount. Firth, Pond and Company settled for approximately two-thirds of the sum Foster asked. They paid him $1,500 in cash and notes, and cancelled the amount of $372.28 which he had overdrawn on his previous royalty account - a total of $1,872.28. To Benteen Stephen sold for $200 the future rights in sixteen songs which had earned him $461.85 during the past six years.

A year later Foster made a new contract with Firth, Pond and Company in which he agreed to compose for them exclusively for two and a half years. He was to receive a royalty of ten per cent on the retail price of his songs and an advance of $100 on each song he wrote, up to twelve each year. This was a better contract, but by that time Stephen had passed his creative prime. In the two and a half years of agreement, until August 9, 1860, he published sixteen songs which earned royalties of only $700. By July of 1860, he was overdrawn at the publishers by nearly $1,400; so once more the slate must be wiped clean. He sold his future rights to Fifth, Pond and Company, this time for $1,600. The publishers deducted the overdraft and paid Stephen $203.36.

With this money Stephen settled his affairs in Allegheny and moved his family to New York, where he would be in closer touch with publishers and with minstrel performers. Firth, Pond is said o have offered him a salary of $800 for writing twelve songs a year, and a Philadelphia publisher, Lee and Walker, agreed to pay him $400 for six songs. These arrangements would assure him of at least $1,200 a year.

On his arrival in New York Stephen handed Firth, Pond and Company a song he had written just before he left home. The publishers must have been delighted to discover that it had all the warmth and richness of Stephen's great songs of earlier years. But Old Black Joe proved to be only a momentary flash of Stephen's former genius. During his last four years he turned out more than a hundred songs, but the quantity was not accompanied by quality. He often collaborated with lyric writers who provided him with the words he no longer wrote himself, and generally the results were mere potboilers.

The salary contracts with Firth, Pond and Company and with the Philadelphia firm did not last long; so Stephen began selling songs for cash to other publishers. Most of them were glad to have his name in their catalogues and were not too particular about the kind of songs they got, as long as they were by Stephen Foster. The cash was spent as soon as it was received, some of it for food and shelter and a large part for drink. By this time Stephen was using liquor as an escape from his worries, and he had become an incurable alcoholic.

Jane tried to stick it out. When she and Marion came to New York with Stephen, the three of them boarded for a time at 113 Greene Street, with Mrs. Louisa Stuart. Stephen worked hard. He made friends with the men of his profession and he started collaborating with some of them, notably with George Cooper, who provided him with the words of many of his Civil War songs. In later years Cooper was to become famous for the verses of Sweet Genevieve, to music by Henry Tucker. In the summer of 1861 Jane and Marion went to Lewistown, Pennsylvania, to visit Jane's sister. Stephen lived alone for several months, and his loneliness made him drink more heavily. By this time his habits were becoming a serious problem, and Jane paid what money she could for various "cures." Stephen patiently submitted to them and made an honest effort to throw off his craving for the "rum" a grocer on Hester Street made from French spirits and brown sugar.

By September Jane was worried. She borrowed train fare from Morrison Foster, and made a trip to New York. After one look at Stephen, she decided he must not be alone, and the family tried living in a boarding house. Bit it did not work. The next summer Jane went back to Lewistown, and as far as is known, she did not live again with Stephen. Since Stephen could no longer support her, she became a telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad at Greensburg, Pennsylvania.