Betsy Ross (1752-1836) – Ross, a lifelong Philadelphian and a Quaker until eloping with Anglican John Ross in 1773, was 24 and widowed, an upholsterer on Arch Street when Declaration of Independence signers George Washington, George Ross, Jr. (the uncle of her late husband) and Robert Morris asked her to stitch a flag. But her life is more than that single flag. Not only did Ross’ upholstery clients include Washington and Benjamin Franklin, she also stitched hundreds of flags for the United States government, including flags that flew in the War of 1812 and flags sent as gifts on official diplomatic relations with Native Americans. At home, she lost two husbands to the Revolutionary War and cared for a third in his late life illness, reared five daughters, brought many orphaned nieces into her home and survived the yellow fever epidemic that took the lives of both her parents and a sister, living until age 84.