Betsy Ross

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 has been widely, but perhaps erroneously, credited with making the first American flag.[1][2]

Contents

Early life

Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom to parents Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 1, 1752, the eighth of 17 children.[3] 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] Her great-grandfather Andrew Griscom, a Quaker carpenter immigrated in 1680 from England to New Jersey, United States.[5]

After she finished her schooling at a Quaker public school, her father apprenticed her to an upholsterer named William Webster.[4][6] 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.[7] 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.[3] Betsy and John had no children.

Post-War

They were married for just over two years when their union was 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.[4] 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,[8] the claim that Ross once lived at the Betsy Ross House is a matter of dispute.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11] 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 Sydney (Claypoole) 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 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.[12] 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."[13]

Further reading

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. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Independence Hall Association. Betsy Ross: Her Life. Accessed 11 March 2008.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 William C. Kashatus, "Seamstress for a Revolution," American History, 37.3 (Aug 2002).
  5. ↑ Betsy Ross: Her Life
  6. ↑ Kashatus, William C. ushistory.org, June 2005, "Seamstress for a Revolution". Accessed 2 February 2010.
  7. ↑ Betsy Ross at History Resource Center, by George H. Genzmer. Website accessed 1 June 2009
  8. ↑ Andrew Carr, "The Betsy Ross House," American History 37.3 (Aug 2002): 23.
  9. ↑ "Was This Her House?" at UShistory.org.
  10. ↑ Philadelphia Inquirer, "Corrections", November 22, 2005.
  11. ↑ The Star-Spangled Banner, Lonn Taylor, Kathleen M. Kendrick, and Jeffery L Brodie. Smithsonian Books/Collins Publishing (New York:2008
  12. ↑ What About Betsy Ross, pp.68-69
  13. ↑ http://common-place.org/vol-08/no-01/ulrich

External links