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Betsy Ross, known for sewing the first American flag, faced adversity including being disowned by the Quaker church and surviving three husbands. She was approached by a group including George Washington to sew the flag, and changed the stars from six to five points. The story is considered a legend, but Ross’s legacy lives on. She ran an upholstery business until retirement and died at age 84, buried in the Free Quaker Cemetery before her remains were moved to the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia.
Betsy Ross was the woman best known in American history for sewing the first American flag. The red, white and blue emblem of liberty is still her living legacy and attests to her triumphant place in history. She has lived a life challenged by adversity, having been disowned by her own religious organization and surviving three husbands. However, she also gave birth to seven daughters and maintained a family business until shortly before her death at the age of eighty-four.
Betsy Ross, whose birth name was Elizabeth Griscom, was called Betsy for short. She was the youngest of seventeen children born to parents who were members of the Religious Society of Friends. Its members at that time were also known as the Quakers. Betsy Ross was educated in Quaker schools, where the curriculum for young women at the time consisted mainly of writing, housework and needlework.
In 1773, Betsy met John Ross and the two eventually eloped. John Ross was a fellow apprentice and an Episcopal church clergyman. William Franklin, who was the son of Benjamin Franklin, read their vows in New Jersey. Because interfaith marriages were forbidden by the Quaker church at the time, Betsy and her husband were rejected by the Quakers. The upholstery business they started together was relatively unsuccessful due to the American Revolution. John was killed in a gunpowder explosion while fighting under the Pennsylvania militia.
In the summer of 1776, Betsy Ross was approached by the “Committee of Three,” a self-proclaimed group consisting of George Ross, Robert Morris, and George Washington, who was a fellow Christ Church parishioner. She was asked to sew the first American flag based on a design sketched by Washington. Betsy did this, but she made a change to the original design. She changed the stars from six-pointed to five-pointed.
The story of Betsy Ross is still considered by many to be a legend. There are not many contemporary claims that the committee meeting actually existed. Many of the accounts were passed down through oral affidavits from blood relatives. Betsy’s nephew William Canby made the story public through a reading before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania State Navy Board, however, also claimed to have commissioned a job from her in 1777.
Betsy Ross was pro-war and joined the Fighting Quakers. She later married Joseph Ashburn and the couple had two daughters. Unfortunately, British soldiers accosted Joseph on his way to get supplies and he was incarcerated in Old Mill Jail, where he died in 1782. A year later, Betsy married John Claypoole, a longtime friend, and together they had five daughters. In 1817 Claypoole died after suffering years of chronic illness.
Despite the hardships she endured, Betsy Ross ran her upholstery business until retirement, at which time one of her daughters took over. She died in Philadelphia and was buried in the Free Quaker Cemetery. Later, Ross’s remains were moved to the courtyard of the Betsy Ross House, located a few blocks from the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The latter mansion is one of Philadelphia’s three most visited tourist sites.
