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Betsy Ross

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Betsy Ross presenting the first American flag to General George Washington, by Edward Percy Moran.

Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836), born Elizabeth Griscom and also known by her second and third married names Elizabeth Ashburn and Elizabeth Claypoole,[1] is widely credited with making the first American flag.[2][3] There is, however, no archival evidence that the story is true.[4]

Early life[]

Betsy Ross was born to Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1752, the eighth of seventeen children.[5] She grew up in a household where the plain dress and strict discipline of the Society of Friends dominated her life.[6] She learned to sew from her great-aunt Sarah Elizabeth Ann Griscom.[6] Her great-grandfather Andrew Griscom, a Quaker carpenter, emigrated in 1680 from England.[7]

After she finished her schooling at a Quaker public school, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer named William Webster.[8] At this job, she fell in love with fellow apprentice John Ross, who was the son of Aeneas Ross (and Sarah Leach), an assistant rector at (Episcopal) Christ Church. The couple eloped in 1773 when she was 21 at Hugg's Tavern in Gloucester City, New Jersey.[9] The marriage caused a split from her family and meant her expulsion from the Quaker congregation. The young couple soon started their own upholstery business and joined Christ Church, where their fellow congregants included George Washington and his family.[5] Betsy and John Ross had no children.[5][10]

Revolutionary War[]

The American Revolutionary War broke out when the two had been married for two years. As a member of the local militia, John Ross was assigned to guard munitions and, according to one legend, was killed by a gunpowder explosion, but family sources have doubts about this claim.[11] The 24-year-old Betsy worked in the upholstery business repairing uniforms and making tents and blankets and stuffed paper tube cartridges with musket balls in 1779 for the Continental Army.[12]

There is speculation that Betsy was the "beautiful young widow," who distracted Carl von Donop in Mount Holly, New Jersey, after the Battle of Iron Works Hill, thus keeping his forces out of the Battle of Trenton.[13]

On June 15, 1777, she married her second husband, mariner Joseph Ashburn. In 1780, Ashburn's ship was captured by a British frigate and he was charged with treason and imprisoned at Old Mill Prison, in England. During this time, their daughter, Eliza, was born.[5] Ashburn died in jail.[5]

In May 1783, she married John Claypoole, who had met Joseph Ashburn in Old Mill Prison and had informed her of her husband's death. The couple had five daughters. With the birth of their second daughter, they moved to a larger house on Second Street. After two decades of poor health, Claypoole died in 1817. Ross continued the upholstery business for 10 more years.[6] Upon retirement, she moved in with her daughter, Susanna, to a section of Abington.[14]

Ross, by then completely blind, spent her last three years living with her daughter, Jane, in Philadelphia. On Saturday, January 30, 1836, Ross died at the age of 84.[15]

Although it is one of the most visited tourist sites in Philadelphia,[16] the claim that Ross once lived at the Betsy Ross House is a matter of dispute.[17]

Burials[]

Ross's body was first buried at the Free Quaker burial ground on North 5th Street. Twenty years later, her remains were exhumed and reburied in the Mt. Moriah Cemetery in the Cobbs Creek Park section of Philadelphia. In preparation for the United States Bicentennial, the city ordered the remains moved to the courtyard of the Betsy Ross House in 1975; however, workers found no remains under her tombstone. Bones found elsewhere in the family plot were deemed to be hers and were re-interred in the current grave visited by tourists at the Betsy Ross House.

Betsy Ross postage stamp[]

On January 1, 1952, the U.S. Post Office issued a stamp to honor the 200th anniversary of her birth. It shows her presenting the new flag to George Washington, Robert Morris, and George Ross. The design was taken from a painting by Charles H. Weisberger, one of the founders and first secretary of the Memorial Association.[citation needed]

Memory and legend[]

See also: Betsy Ross flag

Research conducted by the National Museum of American History notes that the story of Betsy Ross making the first American flag for General George Washington entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 centennial celebrations.[18] In 1870 Ross's grandson, William J. Canby, presented a paper to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in which he claimed that his grandmother had "made with her hands the first flag" of the United States.[19] Canby said he first obtained this information from his aunt Clarissa Sydney (Claypoole) Wilson in 1857, twenty years after Betsy Ross's death. Canby dates the historic episode based on Washington's journey to Philadelphia, in late spring 1776, a year before Congress passed the Flag Act.[20]

In the 2008 book The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of an American Icon, Smithsonian experts point out that Canby's recounting of the event appealed to Americans eager for stories about the revolution and its heroes and heroines. Betsy Ross was promoted as a patriotic role model for young girls and a symbol of women's contributions to American history.[21] Historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich further explored this line of enquiry in a 2007 article, "How Betsy Ross Became Famous: Oral Tradition, Nationalism, and the Invention of History."[10] Ross biographer Marla Miller points out, however, that even if one accepts Canby's presentation, Betsy Ross was merely one of several flag makers in Philadelphia, and her only contribution to the design was to change the 6-pointed stars to the easier 5-pointed stars.[22]

The Betsy Ross Bridge, connecting Philadelphia with Pennsauken, New Jersey, is named in her honor.

References[]

  1. ↑ The Story of Our Flag..., 2nd Edition by Addie Guthrie Weaver, A.G.Weaver, 1898, page 73
  2. ↑ Gene Langley, "The legend and truth of Betsy Ross" The Christian Science Monitor 94.141 (6/14/2002): 22.
  3. ↑ Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, "Review of The Life and Times of Betsy Ross and The Life and Times of Nathan Hale," School Library Journal 53.7 (Jul 2007).
  4. ↑ Marc Leepson, "Five myths about the American flag", The Washington Post, June 12, 2011, p. B2.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Independence Hall Association. Betsy Ross: Her Life. Accessed 11 March 2008.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 William C. Kashatus, "Seamstress for a Revolution," American History, 37.3 (Aug 2002).
  7. ↑ Betsy Ross: Her Life
  8. ↑ Kashatus, William C. ushistory.org, June 2005, "Seamstress for a Revolution". Accessed 2 February 2010.
  9. ↑ Betsy Ross at History Resource Center, by George H. Genzmer. Website accessed 1 June 2009
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 http://common-place.org/vol-08/no-01/ulrich
  11. ↑ Marla Miller, Betsy Ross and the Making of America, pg 151-152
  12. ↑ Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (May 7, 2010). "Book Review — Betsy Ross and the Making of America — By Marla R. Miller — NYTimes.com". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/books/review/Ulrich-t.html?pagewanted=all. Retrieved February 6, 2011. 
  13. ↑ Fischer, David Hackett (2004). Washington's Crossing. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517034-2. 
  14. ↑ "Betsy Ross Lived in Abington," Rydal-Meadowbrook Civic Association
  15. ↑ Miller, Marla R. "Betsy Ross and the Making of America", p 342. Macmillan, 2010.
  16. ↑ Andrew Carr, "The Betsy Ross House," American History 37.3 (Aug 2002): 23.
  17. ↑ "Was This Her House?" at UShistory.org.
  18. ↑ The Star-Spangled Banner, Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffrey L Brodie. Smithsonian Books/Collins Publishing (New York:2008)
  19. ↑ Buescher, John. "All Wrapped up in the Flag" Teachinghistory.org, accessed August 21, 2011.
  20. ↑ "The History of the Flag of the United States" by William Canby
  21. ↑ What About Betsy Ross, pp.68–69
  22. ↑ Miller, 176

Further reading[]

  • Chanko, Pamela. Easy Reader Biographies: Betsy Ross: The Story of Our Flag (Easy Reader Biographies). 2007.
  • Cohon, Rhody, Stacia Deutsch, and Guy Francis. Betsy Ross' Star (Blast to the Past). 2007.
  • Cox, Vicki. Betsy Ross: A Flag For A Brand New Nation (Leaders of the American Revolution). 2005.
  • Harker, John B. and Museum Images & Exhibits. Betsy Ross's Five Pointed Star. 2005.
  • Harkins, Susan Sales and William H. Harkins. Betsy Ross (Profiles in American History) (Profiles in American History). 2006.
  • Leepson,Marc. Flag: An American Biography (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, 2005).
  • Loewen, James W., Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong. 1995
  • Mader, Jan. Betsy Ross (First Biographies). 2007.
  • Mara, Wil. Betsy Ross (Rookie Biographies). 2006.
  • Miller, Marla R. (2010). Betsy Ross and the Making of America. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC. ISBN 978-0-8050-8297-5. 

External links[]

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