Betsy Ross

Betsy sewing the flag (www.gorgeglazer.com)

Betsy Ross is a hero in my eyes because as you know she sewed the first American flag, but you probably don’t know her lifetime story…

Quaker girl Elizabeth Griscom was born on January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania into a home of seventeen children not including herself. She got her nickname by her brothers because her brothers couldn’t pronounce Elizabeth; they called her “Betsy”. At the age of seven, she went to Friends Public School, unlike most girls. At the age of twelve, she graduated school and started sewing, soon to learn it was her trade. When Betsy was twelve, she graduated from school and returned home to learn the characteristics of a woman. When Betsy turned sixteen, she was able to become a shopkeeper’s apprentice. Soon she was able to open a store with her first husband, John Ross. In conclusion, Betsy had to work extra hard because she was a girl and unlike most girls, she opened her own shop and became a young apprentice and shopkeeper.

Some challenges and obstacles Betsy had during her lifetime was that her husband had to go to war and when he had to guard a storehouse the storehouse exploded from the gunpowder inside and killed John. A few months later Betsy remarried. Together she and her new husband had five children, but only four lived to adulthood. Her new husband went to war. Soon he was held prisoner in an English prison and died of thirst. Soon after that, Betsy got re-married to a Quaker named John Ross, which is also the same name as her first husband. Together She and John had five children all together, but one died as a baby and only two lived to adulthood. If you put all of Betsy’s kids together, it ends up that she had ten children, but only six lived to adulthood. Then her third husband died of old age in 1817. So as you can see, Betsy had many obstacles and challenges in her life including deaths, kids, and tragedy.

The contributions Betsy Ross had was that she sewed the first American Flag and won many prizes growing up for her needle -work. When Betsy was eighteen, she entered into a contest for the best needlework. As you can guess, she won! In 1776, when Betsy was 20, George Washington chose her to sew the American Flag. George Washington wanted the flag to be done as soon as possible so a few of Betsy’s friends helped her sew the flag (Probably since she did such a good job at sewing the flag). It is said that Betsy was also in charge of sewing George Washington’s shirt ruffles. Betsy’s dad helped hang the Liberty Bell in the State House! I think you can guess that her family was very important even though her family was very poor. Betsy Ross earned responsibility to design and make the American Flag because when the best sewers in Philadelphia were ranked, (as you can guess) Betsy came in first place.

Betsy Ross had many character traits. Some traits that Betsy Ross had was that she was very determined to make the American Flag even when all three of her husbands died. A second trait that Betsy had was that she was very creative and she had to be or else George Washington wouldn’t have hired her!! A third trait that Betsy Ross had was that she was very patriotic to her country because if she wasn’t patriotic, she would have probably stopped making the flag when her third husband died. Hence, Betsy Ross had many character traits but these were just a few!!

So as you can see, Betsy Ross is a hero in my eyes because of her creativity, success, and her responsibility to making a part of history.