El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1916-08-26
Betsy and The Flag
Quaker Girl Was First TO Make
National Banner With Stars
And Stripes.
BY MADIsOr- C. PETERS.
Copyright 1916 by Madison c.
Peters.)

~ IIZAB BETH. or as she was fondly
II called. Betsy. the seventh
- daughter of Samuel and Rebecka
Griscom, of Philadelphia. was born
January /. 1852. the first day under
the new Gregorian calender. so that II
was said. She was born the first day
Of the month. the first day Of the
year. the first day of the new style
Betsy's father was a builder and as
sisted in the erection of Independence
Hall His house. shop and garden
were on 'rch street near Third
At 81, Betsy married John Ross. son
OF AleneaS Ross, assistant iectoI %
Christ Episcopal church. and nephew
Of George Ross. one of the singers OF
the Declaration OF Independence from
Delaware. Betsy Griscom was-a Quaker,
but after her marriage to Ross she
attended Christ Episcopal church
Betsy had learned the trade OF up
holstery with her husband before they
ran Off 70 be married and they Sc
up business for themselves. first. on
Chestnut street. and afterwards moVed
to the little house on Arch street. IN
which house the flag was made later
In IT'S. while guarding military
stores on the wharves her husband
was injured. from the effects or whlcA
he died Mrs. Ross continued the up
holstery business and the manufacture
of flags.
Is Thrice Married
Betsy Ross was married a second
time at Old Swedes' church, Phlladel-
phia. June Is. 1I74. to Joseph Asnourn.
who was captured by the British and
with other soldiers taken to England
where he died in prison, March j. y
John Claypole. a comrade and also a
prisoner of war. nursed Ashburn until
he died on his release and return to
America. Claypole brought home 10
Ashburn's widow Not only the nus
bands diary but messages to the widow
whom he afterwards married Nav ),
1888 At Christ church John clay
pole was wounded in the battle d
Cierma ntown. which with his other
which he never resained-thus the
lives of her three husbands were
sacrificed to their country
In 1898 when the Free Quakers
society was organized Betsy Ross re
turned to her fathers church from
which she was expelled for having
married out of meeting. and for hav-
ing husbands who fOuSht-all Friends
who took part in the revolution were
disOwned by the Society OF trlends,
The Free Quakers" were often called
the Fighting Quakers-
Flag Is An Evolution
The American flag is an evolution
rather than a creation Some writer's
have favored the opinion that both the
stars and stripes on our national EN-.
, bIem we're derived from the coat or
arms Of Washing ton's family. which BY
a remarkable coincidence contains ootn
devices but beyond the striking re
been produced to show that they were
taken from the arms of a Washington
family Explaining its meaning
Washington once said
we take the stars from heaven. the
red from our mother country. separat-
ing IL by white stripes thus showinS
that We have separated from her. am
the white stripes shall 20 Gown 10
postsrity representing liberty
The idea Of the adoption OF stars
as a device may have originated IN bos-
ton. n the Massachusetts, spy or
March 10. 1774. there was suggestion
for star in the American emblem On
the standard of the Philadelphia Light
Horse there was charger win I
the only distinctive American feature
on the flag and the last unfolding in
the evolution of our national emblem
occurred when they were substituted
for the subjoined crosses of St George
and St Andrew. in the canton of the
Continental Union flag. that being the
only change necessary to produce the
Stars and Stripes
Congress DesIgnates Type of Flag.
II was not until year subsequent
to the Declaration Of Independence that
the first legislature relative to the
establishment of national flag was
enacted On June Il, 1717, congress
resolved that the flag of the Is United
States be Is stripes. alternate red ana
Wnlte- that the Union DC 10 SAdA - mt
in blue field, representing 4 new con-
stellatiOn-
Makes First Flag.
The credit of making the first. COM
bining the stars and stripes belongs
to Betsy Ross. The first display of
the flag of the Stars and Stripes was
over Fort StanwiX. New York. where
an imprOviSed national standard was
raised on August ;. 1117-
II is claimed that the stars and
Stripes was unfurled in a skirmish be-
tween British and American troops on
the 3rd of September. the day It was
officially promulgated by congress. The
starry banner was displayed at the bat
tie Of Brandywine. September II. At
Germantown October (, and when
Burgoyne surrendered AT Saratoga on
the 18th of that month and thence
forward during all the battles OF the
revolution
In 1878 a measure was passed which
enacted that on the admission Of every
state into the Union one star should
be added to the Union of the flag and
that such addition should take effect
or the ith of July next succeeding
such admission.
At first there was much diversity OF
opinion as to the way the stars should
be arranged on the canton The first
flag made by Betsy Ross had the stars
in a circle. but she afterwards made
flags for the arsenals and navy ward
and Merchant marine wherein the stars
were arranged in parallel rows