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*The Birth of Old Glory* by Edward Percy Moran (c. 1917), depicting the presentation by Betsy Ross of the first American flag to George Washington

Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836) was an American seamstress and upholsterer who had been widely but erroneously credited with making the first American flag.^[1]^[2]

Betsy Ross had an issue of saying "Get a life you big old sack of flour!" to george washington too many times and her head was cut off after she made the flag by Sybil Ludington.

Burials

Ross's body was first buried at the 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.^[3]

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

Research conducted by the Smithsonian National Museum of America 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.^[4] 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.^[5] 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."^[6]

References

^ Gene Langley, "The legend and truth of Betsy Ross" Christian Science Monitor 94.141 (6/14/2002): 22.
^ 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).
^ Philadelphia Inquirer, "Corrections", November 22, 2005.
^ The Star-Spangled Banner, Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffery L Brodie. Smithsonian Books/Collins Publishing (New York:2008
^ What About Betsy Ross, pp.68-69
^ http://common-place.org/vol-08/no-01/ulrich

External links

Betsy Ross Homepage from ushistory.org
Betsy Ross at Find a Grave

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[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] Philadelphia Inquirer, "Corrections", November 22, 2005.

[4] The Star-Spangled Banner, Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffery L Brodie. Smithsonian Books/Collins Publishing (New York:2008

[5] What About Betsy Ross, pp.68-69

[6] ttp://common-place.org/vol-08/no-01/ulrich

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+Betsy Ross had an issue of saying "Get a life you big old sack of flour!" to george washington too many times and her head was cut off after she made the flag by Sybil Ludington.
-==Post-War==
-They were married for just over two years when their union was tragically cut short by the war for independence. John Ross, a member of the local militia, was guarding munitions near the Delaware River when an explosion of gunpowder killed him, leaving Betsy a childless widow at the age of 24. Betsy continued to run her upholstery business, making extra income by mending uniforms and making tents, blankets, musketballs, and cartridges for the Continental army.
-On June 15, 1777, Betsy married her second husband, Joseph Ashburn. Joseph was a mariner and was often at sea, leaving Betsy, a new mother, alone in Philadelphia. The sea was a dangerous place during the Revolution; in 1780 a British frigate captured Joseph’s ship. The crew was charged with treason and taken to Old Mill Prison in Plymouth,England. While Ashburn was imprisoned at Old Mill, his and Betsy’s first daughter, Zilla, died at only nine months old and their second daughter, Eliza was born. Joseph never learned of Zilla’s death nor had the opportunity to see his new daughter, because he died of an unknown illness before the British released the American prisoners in 1782.
-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.<ref name="Kash">William C. Kashatus, "Seamstress for a Revolution," ''American History'', 37.3 (Aug 2002).</ref> After her retirement, she moved in with her married daughter, Susannah Satterthwaite, who continued to operate the business.
-Although it is one of the most visited tourist sites in Philadelphia,<ref>Andrew Carr, "The Betsy Ross House," ''American History'' 37.3 (Aug 2002): 23.</ref> the claim that Ross once lived at the [[Betsy Ross House]] is a matter of dispute.<ref>[http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/prove239.html "Was This Her House?"] at UShistory.org.</ref>
 ==Burials==