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Betsy Ross

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The Birth of Old Glory, by Edward Percy Moran, depicting the presentation by Betsy Ross of the first American flag to George Washington

Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has been widely credited with making the first American flag.[1][2]

Early life

Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom to parents Samuel and Rebecca in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 1, 1752, the eighth of 17 children.[3] Unusually she was born with a set of fully formed teeth. She "grew up in a household where the plain dress and strict discipline of the Society of Friends dominated her life."[4] She learned to sew from her great-aunt Sarah Griscom.[4]

After she finished her schooling at a Quaker public school, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer named William Webster.[4] At this job, she fell in love with fellow apprentice John Ross, son of an assistant rector Aeneas Ross (Sarah Leach) at (Episcopal) Christ Church. The couple eloped in 1773 when she was 21 at Hugg's Tavern in Gloucester, New Jersey.[5] 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.[3] Betsy and John had two children.

The Revolutionary War

The Rosses were financially stressed by the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The fabrics they depended on grew scarce, and business slowed considerably. John joined the Pennsylvania militia and was killed in January 1776 when ammunition in a storehouse he was guarding exploded.

After her first husband's death, Betsy Ross joined the "Fighting Quakers" which, unlike traditional Quakers, supported the war effort. In June 1777, she married sea captain Joseph Ashburn at Old Swedes' Church in Philadelphia. British soldiers forcibly occupied their house when they controlled the city in 1777. Following the Battle of Germantown, she nursed both American and British soldiers.[4]

Betsy Ross is best remembered, however, as a flag maker during the Revolution. Family oral history, supported only by 19th century affidavits, recounts the widowed Ross meeting with George Washington, George Ross, and Robert Morris at her upholstery business in Philadelphia, a meeting said to have resulted in the sewing of the first U.S. "stars and stripes" flag.[3] According to the story, it was at this meeting, to "silence the men's protests that these new five-pointed stars would be unfamiliar and difficult for seamstresses to make, she folded a piece of paper, made a single scissor snip, and revealed a perfect five-pointed star."[6]

Evidence that Ross did in fact make flags for the government includes a receipt for her making "ship's colours" for the Pennsylvania Navy in May 1777, as well as a folded star pattern with her name found in a Philadelphia Quaker Society safe.[7] Whether or not Ross made the "first" stars and stripes has never been proven, however. According to the family legend, many women were making flags when Betsy received her first order.[8] Francis Hopkinson also took credit for the design of the stars and stripes, which was partially acknowledged by Congress.[9]

Post-War

In May 1783, Ross married John Claypoole, an old friend who had told her of Ashburn's death in a British prison where he and Ashburn had been confined. The couple had five daughters together. He died in 1817 after twenty years of ill health. She continued working in her upholstery business, including making flags for the United States of America, until 1827.[4] After her retirement, she moved in with her married daughter, Susannah Satterthwaite, who continued to operate the business. Ross died in Philadelphia on January 30, 1836, at age 84.

Although it is one of the most visited tourist sites in Philadelphia,[10] the claim that Ross once lived at the Betsy Ross House is a matter of dispute.[11]

Burials

Ross's body was first buried at the Free Quaker burial ground on South 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.[12]

Betsy Ross postage stamp

On January 1, 1952, the United States Postal Service 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.

Myth and memory

See also: Betsy Ross flag

Research conducted by the Smithsonian National Museum of American History notes that the story of Betsy Ross making the first American flag for General George Washington entered into the American conscious about the time of the 1876 Centennial celebrations.[13] 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. Canby said he first obtained this information from his aunt Clarissa Wilson in 1857, twenty years after Betsy Ross's death. The historic episode supposedly occurred in late May or early June 1776, a year before Congress passed the Flag Act.

In their 2008 book The Star-Spangled Banner: The Making of an American Icon, the Smithsonian experts point out that Canby's romantic tale 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.[14] This line of enquiry is further explored by award-winning historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in a 2007 article "How Betsy Ross Became Famous: Oral Tradition, Nationalism, and the Invention of History."[15]

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's 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.
  • Mader, Jan. Betsy Ross (First Biographies). 2007.
  • Mara, Wil. Betsy Ross (Rookie Biographies). 2006.

References

  1. ^ Gene Langley, "The legend and truth of Betsy Ross," Christian Science Monitor 94.141 (6/14/2002): 22.
  2. ^ 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).
  3. ^ a b c Independence Hall Association. Betsy Ross: Her Life. Accessed 11 March 2008.
  4. ^ a b c d e William C. Kashatus, "Seamstress for a Revolution," American History, 37.3 (Aug 2002).
  5. ^ Betsy Ross at History Resource Center, by George H. Genzmer. Website accessed 1 June 2009
  6. ^ Independence Hall Association. 5-Pointed Star in One Snip. Accessed 11 April 2008.
  7. ^ Lindsey Galloway, "The Signs Still Point to Ross", U.S. News & World Report 141.6 (8/14/2006). Accessed 11 April 2008.
  8. ^ The history as presented by Betsy Ross' grandson, William Canby, can be found online, accessed 1 August 2008
  9. ^ Federal Citizen Information Center Accessed 11 April 2008.
  10. ^ Andrew Carr, "The Betsy Ross House," American History 37.3 (Aug 2002): 23.
  11. ^ "Was This Her House?" at UShistory.org.
  12. ^ Philadelphia Inquirer, "Corrections", November 22, 2005.
  13. ^ The Star-Spangled Banner, Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffery L Brodie. Smithsonian Books/Collins Publishing (New York:2008
  14. ^ What About Betsy Ross, pp.68-69
  15. ^ http://common-place.org/vol-08/no-01/ulrich
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Betsy Ross.

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