MISS ELIZABETH GRISCOM was born 1742, in Philadelphia, and was married in 1762 to Mr. John Ross, a merchant of that city. She was a strict member of The Society of Friends, and by them always called “Betsy Ross.” She was unsurpassed in fine needlework, and well known throughout Philadelphia and New York cities as the most artistic upholstress in America. She used the most superior, richest and finest of imported embroidered velvets, satins, silks and woolens, that were brought to this country by the packet ships of Caleb and Thomas Cope, Boyd & Reed, and John Ross, agreeably to her express orders; and she had a dozen or more of her sisters, daughters and nieces constantly employed sewing and finishing variegated needlework, in the very best manner, as she directed them; and thus no other upholsterer could possibly compete with her. She was a natural artist, an inventive genius, who fully understood the best effects of complimentary colors, and the grandeur of the primary colors; yet, strange as it may appear, though one of the plainest of “Quakers,” she invariably used cloths of the very brightest, and in every instance the primary colors combined, so as to be distinguished from all other objects, and she quickly judged and comprehended the styles that would best please her customers. Her brilliant draperies and tri-colored curtains, in the public halls, hotel parlors, and drawing rooms, were greatly admired; whilst General Washington, General Hand, Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, J. Koch, Gouveneur Morris, Robert Morris, Judge James Wilson, Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Joseph Wilson, Caleb and Thomas Cope, Thomas Wilson, Timothy Matlack, James Trimble, and William Shippen, are some of the names on her store-books, as her generous and kind friends and patrons, whose heirs still possess beautiful curtains and magnificent quilts of variegated silks and satins, unsurpassed, at this day, for beauty of utility, justness of composition, that none but a perfect artist could produce; and the constant use of materials of primary colors were her praise, excellence, and fame.
Colonel George Ross, (a member of the Continental Congress,) and James Trimble, (afterwards Deputy Secretary of Pennsylvania,) were her brothers-in-law, and through their suggestions, she adorned, with drapery, the Hall of Congress, and the Governor’s reception room. Her upholstery in the ladies’ cabins and state rooms of Caleb and Thomas Cope’s packet ships was unrivalled and not equalled by the state rooms of the European packets; whilst from the topmasts of Cope’s packets, her waving red, white, and blue STREAMERS made glad the travelers of the seas, several years before the Revolution of 1776. Some of the theatres and public halls of Philadelphia were embellished and decorated with curtains of white, mazarine, and scarlet velvets and silks in waves, festoons, and pendents, and in many instances the curtains were embroidered with gold and silver figures of vines, leaves, and stars that glittered with superb brilliancy, whilst the curtains were invariably supported by a golden spread eagle, with lightning darts in its talons and a silvery olive branch in its beak; and these were the original and wonderful handiwork of Betsy Ross. She could not think of or invent anything brighter or more graceful than her most celebrated gay and glittering primary colored curtains, spangled with stars and supported by a golden eagle, that already ornamented and adorned the interior of the chief Halls of the land. They were her daily delight and divinely brilliant dreams by night. With her scissors she cut the form of a small shield, upon which she sewed five-pointed stars and tri-colored stripes, in imitation of General Washington’s coat-of-arms, which embraced stars and pales upon his escutcheon; this shield she fastened upon the eagle’s breast; and, inspired with one bright thought, she seized her meritorious daily work, flung it to the breeze, hung it “UPON THE OUTER WALLS,” and the Freemen of Columbia cheered, and hailed it “The Flag of the Union!” And that one independent FLING made all the people King!
At the request of Dr. Franklin, Mr. Robert Morris and Col. George Ross, she designed and made the first Flag of the United States, consisting of thirteen red and white stripes, a blue field as a square, on the left and upper corner, and upon the blue field was a spread eagle, with thirteen stars, in a circle of rays of glory, surrounding its head, and the United States Seal was afterwards made from the same design of the United States Flag, viz: A red, white and blue shield on the breast of an American Eagle, holding in its talons an olive branch and thirteen arrows; in its beak a scroll inscribed with this motto, “E Pluribus Unum,” and above its head thirteen stars arranged in a circle of glory. These designs were approved and adopted by the Committee and Congress, and they were made before the words “United States of America,” were legally used. The country was called “Columbia,” the Congress was styled the “Continental Congress,” the States were called “Colonies,”; every petition sent to the King of Great Britain, and every public document, were issued by “The North American Colonies;” our Country had no name until Betsy Ross marked upon her Flags, “The United States of America.” Dr. Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson had been appointed (December, 1775, by Congress, a Secret Committee) to prepare a Flag, and a device for a Seal for the Colonies, and Dr. Rittenhouse was requested by the Committee, to engrave the Seal corresponding with the eagle on the Flag.
On the 4th day of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was finished and signed, and the Rev. Dr. Duché, Chaplain of Congress, had offered up his celebrated “Prayer of Independence,” the Star Spangled Banner was unfurled, and emblazoned the Hall of Independence, and hung around the spire of the Old State House Bell, as it sounded its tones of warning beyond the city limits, re-echoed across the Delaware, and proclaimed the liberty of the land, amidst the thundering shouts of Freemen, the roaring of cannons, musketry, firearms, and bonfires; then the Secret Committee, Franklin, Jefferson and Adams, was publicly announced by the President of Congress, and the Seal (already made) of the “United Colonies,” was used that day. Aye! the Flags waved, the Seal was engraved, and the thirteen “United States of America” were saved.
The Flag was afterwards adopted by Congress, June 14, 1777, and September 15, 1789, they passed the act, that “The Seal heretofore used by the ‘United Colonies’ in Congress assembled, shall be the Seal of the ‘United States;’” and for his beautiful workmanship in engraving that seal, Dr. Rittenhouse was honored with the appointment of Director of the United States Mint; and Franklin styled Rittenhouse, “the Newton of America.”
Mrs. Ross also engaged Mr. George Barrett, (of Cherry near Third street, Philadelphia,) an ornamental painter, and accomplished artist, to paint upon the blue fields of one dozen silk Flags, a gilded bald-headed spread eagle, with thirteen silvered stars encircling its head in rays of glory, which were executed in the finest artistic style, for the use of Congress and General Washington’s army; they were always much admired, and daily used until worn out; and, Betsy Ross also directed Mr. Barrett to ornament the army drums with the same design of the eagle and thirteen stars, and the letters “United States of America,” that gave great delight and spirit to the drummers, to such an extent that Mr. Barrett was kept busy ornamenting flags, flagstaffs, and drums for Washington’s army. The committee of Congress were so much pleased with the design of the eagle and thirteen stars that they concluded to adopt and use it for the “National Seal” exclusively; but, Betsy Ross, Col. George Ross, and Lieut. Paul Jones earnestly protested against despoiling the Flag by leaving out and omitting the eagle, and declared that the Army might, if they choose, have the stars only, but as for the Navy they would never give up the Bald Eagle, the conquerer of all birds, belonging only to America; and from that day to this the bald eagle of America spreads its wings upon the Flags of the United States Revenue vessels as the emblem of freedom, independence, liberty, power, empire, and victory.
From that time our beautiful Flag was composed of thirteen stars and stripes. The red stripes were emblematic of fervency and zeal; the white, of integrity and purity; the blue field with stars, of unity, power, and glory. The number thirteen was symbolical of the thirteen colonial states, that severed their allegiance from the sovereignty of Great Britain, and declared, in 1776, that they were free and independent powers.
The size of the Flag of the army is six feet six inches in length, by four feet four inches in width, with seven red and six white stripes. The first seven stripes, (four red and three white,) bound the square of the blue field for the stars, the stripes extending from the extremity of the field to the end of the Flag. The eighth stripe is white, extending partly at the base of the field.
According to the act of Congress, April 4, 1818, on the admission of every new State into the Union, a star was to be added to the galaxy of the most brilliant Banner of earth.
Mrs. Betsy Ross put all her household to work in earnest, and the “Flags,” made of silk and bunting, were not only admired, but afterwards approved and adopted by the committee of Congress. General George Washington, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson, frequently visited her store, to see what progress she was making, and were not only pleased, but expressed their astonishment at her dexterity and judgment, and in the most flattering terms complimented her for her remarkable skill with the SCISSORS, as she folded a piece of white silk and with one cut formed the beautiful five-pointed star.
Mrs. Ross, by order of the Government, continued making the army and navy Flags of the United States for upwards of fifty-five years, and after her death, in 1832, her daughter, Mrs. Clarissa S. Wilson continued the business, and they became generally and widely known as the most patriotic ladies of America. After the death of Mr. John Ross, she was married to Mr. John Claypoole, the grandson of Sir John Claypoole, the grandson of Oliver Cromwell, who came to Philadelphia with William Penn. She afterwards moved from Arch near Third street, to Second street near Dock, where she resided until her death, at the good old age of four score years and ten.
Mrs. Betsy Ross was of medium height, strong in form, but remarkably graceful and erect; she had a handsome face, a very fair transparent complexion, projecting eyebrows, blue sparkling eyes, and light brown hair. She was a perfect “Friend” in all her speech and movements; possessed of the most refined sprightly intellect and polished education; in fact she was well known throughout the whole of Philadelphia city, as a “sharp, thorough going woman.” First in Friends’ Meeting, where the spirit moved her to speak and to act; First amidst the Daughters of Benevolence, furnishing clothing and lint for the Continental troops, scattering printed patriotic songs and appeals amongst them; and First and most effective in her attentions to the sick. She was, in truth, what her friends styled her, “A Healing Medium,”—but respected and esteemed by all the physicians and surgeons of Philadelphia, as “the true Friend of the sick,” for when her hand touched and bathed the burning fevered brow of the sick soldier, he knew that he had one friend, and that friend was a true one. Whenever she entered the sick chamber, she saturated her handkerchief with vinegar, (that she carried in a phial in her pocket, as a precaution against contagion,) and after wiping her forehead, lips and hands, she quietly approached the bedside of the afflicted invalid, and placing her hand upon his forehead, she would whisper these words, “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray that your health may be restored,” and then she would administer the medicines and restoratives as directed by the visiting physicians; and her angelic nature, purer than that of Jeanne Dare, was the powerful agency of health. She was the worthiest Heroine of the Revolution.
During the frightful devastation caused by the yellow fever in 1793, Mrs. Betsy Ross was most active in alleviating the terrible miseries of that epidemic. Moved with sorrow at the sufferings of others, she carried not only her own life in her hands, but medicines to relieve the sick and dying. Day and night she ceased not; whilst her angelic visits were cheered with success. Her personal perfections irresistably commanded the admiration and love of the sick and afflicted to such a degree, that the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Rush, styled her the “Magical Quakeress.” They who would not now honor, esteem, and love the name of Betsy Ross do not deserve to enjoy the protection of the glorious starry Flag of the Union, in the land of the free and home of the brave, or in any land upon earth where the Flag of the Union waves. Her biography will ornament the brightest pages of our country’s history, and her STATUE, surrounded by a group of her daughters and nieces, cutting, sewing and making the “Star Spangled Banners,” must soon grace the Capitol of our nation, and the patriotic Ladies of America will design, erect, and pay for it. Yes, the friend of Washington, Franklin, Adams, Jefferson, Morris, Jones, Rittenhouse, Ross, the immutable friend of Liberty, and of the soldiers of the Independence of 1776, will forever live in the hearts of all freemen.
See also American History & Mysteries, Over 200 PDF Books on DVDrom and The American Revolutionary War 1775-1783 - 170 Books on DVDrom
No comments:
Post a Comment