Before Rosie the Riveter was an Icon,
Betsy Ross was a Super Star.
H.A. Thomas & Wylie, and Charles H Weisgerber. Birth of our nation's flag / C.H. Weisgerber. Pennsylvania Philadelphia, 1893. [N. Y.: H.A. Thomas & Wylie Lith. Co., N.Y., Copyright] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2004669130/.
Born on New Year’s Day 1752 in the New Jersey, Elizabeth “Betsy” Griscom grew up in a large, strict, Quaker family. At the age of three, the family moved to Philadelphia. Believing all people were created in the Image of God, Quaker education was centuries ahead of its time. So, Betsy received something girls in other colonies often didn’t, an education. Being a talented seamstress, she also received an opportunity few young women at that time had, the opportunity to learn a trade.
Betsy was apprenticed to an upholsterer. While serving her apprenticeship, she met and fell in love with John Ross, an Anglican. Her family did not approve. The couple ran off to New Jersey and were married in a tavern in 1773. They settled in Philadelphia and began attending Christ Church, which put them into contact with the members of the Continental Congress. Shunned by Philadelphia’s Quaker community, the Ross’s struggled to establish their upholstery business. However, they were able to develop a customer base which included Martha and George Washington. When war came, John Ross went off to serve with the Pennsylvania Militia. He was killed in an explosion while guarding an ammunition supply.
As a young widow, Betsy managed to keep the upholstery shop going by making materials for the Continental Army. In the spring of 1776, her business got an unexpected boost. A committee of three, including her late husband’s uncle and a friend from church, George Washington, showed up at her shop. They brought a design for a new Flag. She made a couple alterations and created a prototype for the American Flag. In May of 1777, Betsy was paid to make flags for the Pennsylvania Navy. She continued making flags for decades.
In June of 1777, Betsy married merchant sea captain Joseph Ashburn. In October of that year, the British occupied Philadelphia, and Betsy was forced to quarter British soldiers. So great was her displeasure with this, she became known as the Little Rebel. On a privateering mission, Ashburn was captured by the British and imprisoned. Dying in prison, Ashburn asked fellow prisoner, privateer John Claypoole, to seek out Betsy when he returned to Philadelphia.
John Claypoole, the son of a Philadelphia tanner, broke with his pacifist Quaker upbringing to take up arms in the cause of Liberty. He became a part of the Free Quaker sect which Betsy had also joined. While doing a bit of privateering, he was captured and imprisoned, where he met the dying, Joseph Ashburn. After the war, Claypoole returned to Philadelphia bringing the sad news to Betsy. The two rekindled an old friendship and were married. The couple enjoyed 34 years of marriage and had five daughters.
The story of Betsy Ross first surfaced in an 1870 speech by her grandson to the Pennsylvania Historical Society. She quickly became an American icon at a time when there were few women icons. Her likeness was used to sell everything from coffee to cigars, and her name was evoked by the Women’s Suffrage movement. Her face was on even on an early type of trading card. To this day, Betsy Ross is the best known of the Founding Mothers.
To learn more about this amazing lady, please consult the following sources:
Alexander, Kerri Lee. "Betsy Ross." National Women's History Museum (2019) www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/betsy-ross.
American Battlefield Trust. “Betsy Ross” Retrieved 23 January 2024 from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/betsy-ross
Betsy Ross House “The Upholstery Shop” Historic Philadelphia Retrieved 3 February 2024 from https://historicphiladelphia.org/stories/the-upholstery-shop/
Canby, George. “The Evolution of the American Flag” pp. 36-52, (1909) Ferris & Leach
Canby, George. “The History of the Flag of the United States” (1870) A Paper read before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Claypoole, John. “To George Washington from John Claypoole, 4 September 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0188.
Daughters of the American Revolution. “Pathway of Our Patriots, Elizbeth Griscom Claypoole” Retrieved 3 February 2024 from https://honoringourpatriots.dar.org/patriots/elias-cady-2/
Furlong, William and McCandless, Byron “So Proudly We Hail, The History of the United States Flag” p.117 (1981) Smithsonian Institution Press
Independence Hall Association. “A Brief Biography of Betsy Ross.” Retrieved 22 January 2024 from https://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flaglife.html
Museum of the American Revolution. “Long-Lost Revolutionary War Diary of John Claypoole, Husband of Betsy Ross, Discovered and Donated to Museum” Retrieved 4 February 2024 from https://www.amrevmuseum.org/press-releases/long-lost-revolutionary-war-diary-of-john-claypoole-husband-of-betsy-ross-discovered-and-donated-to-museum
National Park Service. “Free Quaker Meeting House” Retrieved 3 February 2024 from https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/places-freequaker.htm
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. “Field Report to State Chairman about Women's Suffrage” (1915) Retrieved 3 February 2024 fromhttps://www.phmc.state.pa.us/portal/communities/documents/1865-1945/womens-suffrage.html