Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-06-09
WOODBURY., N. J., THURSDAY, JUNE O. 1898

ana aCQualNUanCeS rlSKeQ GnNlr lives ana
fortunes. Her story, brief as tbs, would
be interesting even had she no hand in
making the flag of her country, but
with this added incident to her career
her history cannot fail to interest all
who love their country and its flag.
Her maiden name was Elizabeth Girls
com, and her grandfather, Andrew Girls
com, brought over the bricks from Eng
land with which he built the first brick
house in Philadelphia. At the begin
ming of the Revolution John Ross, the
son of an Episcopal clergyman Of New
Castle, Del, was employed in Webster's
upholstery shop in Philadelphia. Eliza
beth Griscom, daughter of Samuel Girls
com, Quaker builder, was also en-
ployed there Tradition has it that Ross
introduced her to Webster as one who
could do some difficult piece of work
which exceeded the skill of the girls
employed in the shop However this
may be, Ross and Betsy were soon after
ward married and set up business for
themselves. first in Chestnut street and
afterward Ill the house III Arcn SJfeeJ
previously referred to.
The war came to interrupt their
plans, and one night when Ross was en-
gagged i'll guarding powder on the wharf
he received an injury from the effects
of which he died in 1776. He was
nephew of Colonel George Ross, one of
the signers of the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, and it was through this con-
nection that Widow Ross received her
commission to make the flag of the
Union.
After her husbands death the young
widow, just turned "a, carried ON the
business alone. Her deceased husband S
uncle, Colonel Ross, was attached to
the clever and sprightly little widow
and aided her in establishing her bust
ness upon firm foundation It is stated
that he even provided her the means to
procure the necessary material for the
making of the first flag of the United
States. However this may be, Mrs. Ross
became regularly established in the
business of fagmaking, which was con-
tinued by her and her immediate fam
lily in the same place for over so years.
A few years after her husbands s death
she married a man named Ashburn,
who went privateering, was captured
and died in London. His friend, John
Olaypole, brought her the news of her
second bereavement, and to console the
pretty widow he married her himself. By
this marriage she had several children,
one of whom, Mrs. @. S. Wilson, con-
tinued the business as late as 1857.
Mrs. Claypole herself died Feb. II,
1885, in the house of another daughter,
Mrs. Candy, whose son, George Candy,
remembers the old lady very we'll.
The body of Betsy Ross, for by this
name she will always be known, rests
in Mount Moriah cemetery, Philadel-
phia. Few perhaps of those who pass
by the little plot in the western part of
the great burial ground, near the Ma
sonic monument, are aware that they
stand by the resting place of one whose
name and fame are indissolubly linked
with the flag of their country aud with
the stirring scenes attending the birth
of liberty.
This is the third place in which the
body of Betsy Ross was inferred. Taken
from her original place of burial in
1866, soon after Mount Moriah oem-
etery had been opened, her remains
were reinterred on the eastern slope of
the grounds. In this spot, however,
there was but little space for sightseers,
and the grave was SO overshadowed by