Next time Old Glory flies to celebrate this great nation, think of Betsy Ross, a woman celebrated as creator of the patriotic symbol although no historical evidence backs up the story. Elizabeth “Betsy” Griscom, the eighth of 17 children, was born in January 1852 in New Jersey but moved to Philadelphia at age three. Raised as a Quaker, Betsy apprenticed with a well-known upholsterer, John Webster, and learned to sew rugs, curtains, bedspreads, and tablecloths. She eloped with another apprentice, John Ross, whose father was an assistant rector of Christ Church, because her family opposed a marriage outside the Quaker faith. John and Betsy started an upholstery business, and when he died three years later, she kept operating the business.
She sewed uniforms, tents, and flags for the Continental Army.
She told family members that, in the summer of 1776, General George Washington and others recruited her to sew a flag with thirteen red and white stripes and thirteen six-pointed stars. She suggested changing the stars from six points to five and showed how easily it could be done, then made the first American flag. She married two more times and raised six children, often sharing with them and her grandchildren the story of sewing the first American flag. She died in January 1836 at 84.
Despite historians questioning the veracity of the account, the U.S. Postal Service issued a Betsy Ross stamp in 1952 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of her birth.
