Betsy Ross

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Betsy Ross (born January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia , Province of Pennsylvania , colony of the Kingdom of Great Britain , † January 30, 1836 there ) is said to have sewed the first flag of the United States . Although this thesis is very questionable, it was also held in American school books for a long time.

Betsy Ross and her children present their sewn flag to George Washington .
Betsy Ross reportedly sewed the first flag of the United States with 13 stars and 13 stripes, each representing one of the 13 colonies .

Early years

She was born Elizabeth "Betsy" Griscom, the eighth of seventeen children of Quakers Samuel and Rebecca Griscom (her father was a grandmaster). Betsy attended Quaker schools where she learned to read, write, and housekeeping (maybe sewing). That could have helped her with her apprenticeship as an upholsterer , a profession that at the time included all kinds of sewing, not just upholstering furniture.

First marriage

While working in her profession, she fell in love with another apprentice, John Ross, who was the son of the Anglican pastor of Christ Church in Philadelphia. Because the Quakers vigorously opposed interdenominational marriages, the couple ran away across the Delaware River to New Jersey in 1773 , where they were married by William Franklin , Benjamin Franklin's son. The couple were later expelled from the Quaker Church.

Less than two years later, they started their own business as an upholsterer. Business was severely impacted by the American Revolutionary War , as the factories were difficult to reach and few orders came in. John joined the Pennsylvania Militia and was fatally wounded in a gunpowder explosion in 1775, after which Betsy took over the business alone.

The legend of sewing the first flag

Certificate from the American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association dated 1912; right and left vignettes with the house in which the flag was produced and with the grave of Betsy Ross

Legend has it that in June 1776, Betsy Ross received a visit from George Washington , George Ross and Robert Morris from the Continental Congress . She had met George Washington praying together at Christ Church and had already sewn buttons for him. In addition, George Ross was her late husband's uncle. They referred to themselves as the "Committee of Three" (possibly self-appointed out of circumstances) and showed her a design that had been drawn with Washington's pencil. The design featured six-pointed stars and Betsy Ross suggested using five-pointed stars instead. The flag was sewn by her in her living room.

There is no contemporary record of this meeting; the information is based solely on oral accounts from her daughter and other relatives and was published in a newspaper of the Pennsylvania Historical Society in 1870 by her grandson, William J. Canby. There is no other supporting documentation that Betsy Ross was involved in the federal flag other than that the Pennsylvania State Naval Commission hired her to make ship flags and other things.

Some historians believe that Francis Hopkinson , not Betsy Ross, designed the official "First Flag" of the United States (13 red and white stripes with 13 stars in a circle on a blue field). Hopkinson was a member of the Continental Congress and a signatory to the Declaration.

Birthplace of the Stars and Stripes, Betsy Ross House, Philadelphia, Pa., 1903.

Another résumé

After John Ross' death, Betsy Ross joined the Free Quakers , who, unlike the traditional Quakers, supported the war effort. In June 1777 she married Captain Joseph Ashburn at Old Swedes Church in Philadelphia. British soldiers forcibly occupied their home when they controlled the city in 1777.

The couple had two daughters. Captain Ashburn was captured on a supply voyage and sent to Old Mill Prison, where he died in Yorktown in March 1782, several months after General Charles Cornwallis surrendered .

In May 1783 she married John Claypoole, an old friend who had told her of Captain Ashburn's death. The couple had five daughters together. He died in 1817 after years of ill health. She continued her work as an upholsterer until 1827. After retiring, she moved in with her married daughter Susannah Satterthwaite, who continued her business.

Betsy Claypoole died in Philadelphia at the age of 84 and was buried in the Free Quaker Cemetery. Their remains were later reburied in Mt. Moriah Cemetery. Today her bones lie in the courtyard of the Betsy Ross house.

Web links

Commons : Betsy Ross  - collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  • Karin A. Wulf: Ross, Betsy ; http://www.anb.org/articles/01/01-00795.html ; American National Biography Online Feb. 2000. Access Date: Thu May 12 2005 18:21:32
  • Evolution of the United States Flag for tracking the history of the Betsy Ross and Francis Hopkinson stories related to the creation of the first American flag. In: usflag.org.

Individual evidence

  1. a b cf. z. B. Bill Bryson : Made in America: an Informal History of the English Language in the United States , Black Swan, 1998, ISBN 0-552-99805-2 , p. 41.
  2. Source: http://www.usflag.org/