Ross, Betsy

Ross, Betsy, 1752–1836, American seamstress, b. Philadelphia. Her full name was Elizabeth Griscom Ross Ashburn Claypoole. She is known to have made flags during the American Revolution, although the long-accepted story that she designed and made the first American national flag (the Stars and Stripes) is generally discredited. The flag may have been designed by Francis Hopkinson.

See R. Thompson, The Last of Philadelphia's Free Quakers (1972).

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