Betsy Ross
Elizabeth "Betsy" Griscom was born on January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She married John Ross at the age of twenty-one. When the revolution began, John joined the army. He was killed when a barrel of gunpowder exploded in January of 1776.
Betsy is said to have make the first flag of the United States. The flag was supposedly sketched on a piece of paper by George Washington. A committee of the Continental Congress approached her in June of 1776 and asked to sew the flag. She agreed to after she persuaded Washington to use five pointed stars instead of six. Although this story is notorious with the American Revolution, historians have found nothing to prove it true, nor has it been proven false. It was first told by William Canby, Betsy's grandson, in 1870. It is known that Betsy made several flags throughout the American Revolutionary War. Congress accepted the flag she may have made on June 14, 1777. She remarried to Joseph Ashburn but he also died in the war. In May of 1782 Betsy married her second husband's best friend, John Claypoole. Her flag making business flourished and her daughter continued the business after her death. Betsy Ross died on January 30, 1836 in Philadelphia.
