Betsy Ross Day - January 2 - Wednesday, January 02, 2013 JANUARY
2nd is Betsy Ross Day. Born a day earlier, January 1, 1752, into
the Quaker "Griscom" family in Philadelphia, she was 8th of 17
children. Apprenticed as a seamstress, Betsy fell in love with
upholsterer John Ross, son of an Episcopal rector at Christ
Church and nephew of George Ross, signer of the Declaration of
Independence. As Quakers forbade interdenominational marriage,
John and Betsy eloped, being married by New Jersey Governor
William Franklin, Ben Franklin's son. Attending Christ's Church
with Jefferson, Hamilton and Franklin, the Ross' pew number 12
was near George Washington's. During the Revolution, John Ross
died when a munitions depot he was guarding blew up. Shortly
after, in June 1776, General Washington reportedly asked Betsy
Ross to sew the American Flag. In 1777, Betsy married sea
captain Joseph Ashburn at the Old Swedes Church. That winter,
the British forcibly quartered in their home. Joseph Ashburn
sailed to the West Indies f