[970]
Betsy Ross made the first American flag after a visit in June
1776 by George Washington, Robert Morris, and her husband's
uncle, George Ross. She demonstrated how to cut a 5-pointed
star with a single clip of the scissors, if the fabric were
folded correctly.
So the story goes -- but this story was not told until 1870 by
Betsy's grandson, and then even he claimed it was a story that
needed confirmation. Most scholars agree that it was not Betsy
who made the first flag, though she was a flagmaker who,
records show, was paid in 1777 by the Pennsylvania State Navy
Board for making "ship's colours, &c."
She was born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
to Samuel and Rebecca James Griscom. She was the
great-granddaughter of a carpenter, Andrew Griscom, who had
arrived in New Jersey in 1680 from England.
Young Elizabeth probably attended Quaker schools and learned
needlework there and at home. When she married John Ross, an
Anglican, in 1773, she was expelled from the Friends Meeting
for marrying outside the meeting. She eventually joined the
Free Quakers, or "Fighting Quakers" because they did not adhere
strictly to the historic pacifism of the sect. John and
Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross began an upholstery business together,
drawing on her needlework skills.
In 1783, Betsy married again -- this time, her husband was John
Claypoole, who had been in prison with Joseph Ashburn, and had
met Betsy when he delivered Joseph's farewells to her. He died
in 1817, after a long disability.
Betsy lived until 1836, dying on January 30. She was reburied
in the Free Quaker Burying Ground in 1857.
When Betsy's grandson told his story of her involvement with
the first flag, it quickly became legend. published in Harper's
Monthly in 1873, by the mid-1880's the story was included in
many school textbooks.