January 14, 2026
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about an American heroine born on New Year’s Day in 1752: Betsy Ross. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue with my story on Elizabeth (Griscom) (Ross) (Ashburn) Claypoole, or “Besty Ross,” a skilled and talented seamstress credited with sewing the first American flag, known as “Stars and Stripes.” Betsy was born on New Year’s Day, 1 January 1752, in Gloucester City, New Jersey.
This year marks America’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, aka America 250, and Ross is a Revolutionary War figure to commemorate.
To recap: Part One covered the history of Ross in the romance department and her three marriages.
Today, my topic is the numerous descendants of Ross who upheld the belief that their ancestor did create the first flag, even though historians have challenged this claim.
In 1976 it was the 200th birthday of American independence and Quaker, author, and professor emeritus of Wilmington College T. Canby Jones (1921-2014), son of Thomas Elsa and Esther Alsop (Balderston) Jones and a great-great-great-great grandson of Betsy Ross, was featured in an article with the headlines: “Did Betsy Ross Make First Stars and Bars? Descendant Contends She Did, Indeed.”
This article reports:
Nearly 200 years have passed since Betsy Ross stitched the first Stars and Stripes in her tiny upholstery shop at 239 Arch Street, Philadelphia.
The Quaker seamstress spent the next 50 years making flags after delivering that first flag to George Washington. Her family has spent the last 150 years trying to prove that Betsy Ross did, indeed, design and make the first flag.
…While school books and American folklore recognize Betsy Ross for the first flag, stubborn historians with a penchant for documented evidence are not convinced.
“I’m willing to trust my family’s tradition,” Jones said. “Affidavits made by my family and also by people who worked for Betsy Ross all support the claim that she made the first flag.”
Although much debate centers around whether Ross really did make the flag, and there is no true documentation, Jones asserts that it is common sense that supports the family claims.
The family tradition is that Betsy Ross stitched the famous flag at her upholstery shop located at 239 Arch Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
William Jackson Canby (1825-1890), grandson of Betsy Ross, helped to procure affidavits from family and associates supporting the claim that she made the first flag, and presented his findings to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania on 14 March 1870.
Among the names Canby enlisted are Margaret “Martha” Boggs, Sophia B. Hildebrandt, Susan Satterthwaite Newport, Susanna McCord Turner, Margaret McCord Smith, and Rachel Ross (Claypoole) Fletcher, Betsy’s daughter. Rachel was born on 1 February 1789 to Betsy and her third husband John Claypoole.
The Cincinnati Post further reports:
The Betsy Ross descendants base much of their claim on the affidavit made by Rachel Fletcher, given two years before her death. [Her affidavit was given on 31 July 1871, based on what her mother had told her. Rachel married Capt. Edward Jones and 2nd John Fletcher. She died 2 June 1873.]
“Washington had often been in Betsy’s house,” Mrs. Fletcher said in the affidavit which appears in the book “The Evolution of the American Flag” written by Jones’ grandfather Lloyd Balderston, who continued the work of William Canby [and his brother George Canby, both born to Caleb Harland and Jane (Claypoole) Canby.]
“She (Betsy Ross) had embroidered ruffles for his (Washington’s) shirt bosoms. It was partly owing to his friendship that she was asked to do the flag,” Mrs. Fletcher said.
Rachel Fletcher said she had heard her mother tell the story of the flag many times and about how she had to borrow a flag from a ship’s mate that she knew so she could see how the flag was stitched.
Betsy’s completed flag was run up the mast of a ship owned by a member of the committee before it was sent to Congress, Jones said. The ship could have been owned by Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a very wealthy man.
I found another article, published in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1908, which features pictures of the descendants of Betsy Ross, including one of Rachel (indicated by red arrow).
The article accompanying these illustrations and photos reports:
An entry will be found in the Treasury records of the United States for May, 1777, as follows: “To pay Betsy Ross 14 pounds 12 shillings 2 pence for flags for the fleet in the Delaware River.” This is incontrovertible documentary evidence that at this time, less than a year after the Declaration of Independence, Betsy Ross was the flag maker for the government.
According to records, the above pay voucher was from the Board of War in the amount of £14.12.2 for “making ships colours” (flags) for the Pennsylvania Navy.
A noteworthy discovery has yielded historical evidence indicating that George Washington patronized Betsy Ross’s upholstery business prior to the alleged commissioning of the flag.
A handwritten ledger found by researchers from Mount Vernon confirms that Washington hired Ross in 1774 to make bed curtains and other bed hangings. While in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress in 1774, Washington gave John Ross five “half-Joes” as a down payment for three sets of bed hangings for his Mount Vernon home. The full payment was recorded later that year.
Also check out this video: Recently Discovered Diary Gives Insight into Betsy Ross’ Life.
The painting below is titled “The Birth of Our Nation’s Flag” by artist Charles H. Weisgerber, and depicts General George Washington; Colonel George Ross, signer of the Declaration of Independence for Pennsylvania Colony, the brother of Mary Ross, uncle of John Ross, and brother-in-law of Colonel Mark Bird; Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence for Pennsylvania Colony; and Betsy Ross.
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Note on the header image: “The Birth of Old Glory,” by Edward Percy Moran, c. 1917. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.