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Betsy Ross Biography
Folk Hero (1752–1836)
According to legend, Betsy Ross made the first American flag. Despite a lack of credible evidence to support this, she remains an icon of American history.
Synopsis
Betsy Ross, a fourth-generation America born in 1752 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, apprenticed with an upholsterer before irrevocably splitting with her family to marry outside the Quaker religion. She and her husband John Ross started their own upholstery business. Despite a lack of credible evidence to support it, legend holds that President George Washington requested that Betsy make the first American flag.
Early Life
Betsy Ross, best known for making the first American flag, was born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1752. A fourth-generation American, and the great-granddaughter of a carpenter who had arrived in New Jersey in 1680 from England, Betsy was the eighth of 17 children. Like her sisters, she attended Quaker schools and learned sewing and other crafts common in her day.
After Betsy completed her schooling, her father apprenticed her to a local upholsterer, where, at age 17, she met John Ross, an Anglican. The two young apprentices quickly fell for one another, but Betsy was a Quaker, and the act of marrying outside of one's religion was strictly off-limits. To the shock of their families, Betsy and John married in 1772, and she was promptly expelled from both her family and the Friends meeting house in Philadelphia that served as a place of worship for Quakers. Eventually, the couple opened their own upholstery business, drawing on Betsy's deft needlework skills.
Folk Hero (1752–1836)
According to legend, Betsy Ross made the first American flag. Despite a lack of credible evidence to support this, she remains an icon of American history.
Synopsis
Betsy Ross, a fourth-generation America born in 1752 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, apprenticed with an upholsterer before irrevocably splitting with her family to marry outside the Quaker religion. She and her husband John Ross started their own upholstery business. Despite a lack of credible evidence to support it, legend holds that President George Washington requested that Betsy make the first American flag.
Early Life
Betsy Ross, best known for making the first American flag, was born Elizabeth Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 1, 1752. A fourth-generation American, and the great-granddaughter of a carpenter who had arrived in New Jersey in 1680 from England, Betsy was the eighth of 17 children. Like her sisters, she attended Quaker schools and learned sewing and other crafts common in her day.
After Betsy completed her schooling, her father apprenticed her to a local upholsterer, where, at age 17, she met John Ross, an Anglican. The two young apprentices quickly fell for one another, but Betsy was a Quaker, and the act of marrying outside of one's religion was strictly off-limits. To the shock of their families, Betsy and John married in 1772, and she was promptly expelled from both her family and the Friends meeting house in Philadelphia that served as a place of worship for Quakers. Eventually, the couple opened their own upholstery business, drawing on Betsy's deft needlework skills.
Betsy Ross
Posted from biography.com
Birthday
American History
American Flag
Edited 6 y ago
Posted 6 y ago
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Saw the flag she supposedly made for George Washington. She is a folk legend.
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Maj Marty Hogan I recently gave a talk to our local DAR Chapter that my wife belongs to, and the subject I chose was the history of the American flag. I unearthed some interesting info on her design of the flag she proposed. I will have to dig up a copy of my handouts, but it had to do with the five pointed star she was proposing and the multi-pointed star Washington wanted to use.
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