Many historians refute Betsy's legacy as more fable than fact, but I choose to believe that this fellow-stitcher contributed significantly to the spirit of our nation. Her story is so intriguing. She chose to marry outside her faith and was "read out" by her Quaker congregation--irrevocably shunned. She and her husband struggled to keep an upholstery business afloat when fabric was not all that easy to come by. Being asked by the leaders of our fledgling nation to sew a flag to carry us into our quest for independence must have been a great honor. Visit the Betsy Ross homepage for a fascinating insight into this stitcher's life and times. You can tour her house in Philadelphia and learn how to cut a 5-pointed star in one snip! And, I'm pretty sure if she were alive today, she'd be a quilter!!!
11 comments:
Here, here! I like to believe that Betsy Ross made our first flag - I don't care what the nay sayers have to say. I think she'd be a quilter today, as well.
:-)
I am sure Betsy would have been a quilter too! What a wonderful post! Enjoy your nation's celebrations on the 4th!
Yes, she must have been crazy about fabric to try to run a business revolving on a product that was so hard to come by. What a clever post, I love it!
Love the post! Thanks for speaking up for Betsy Ross today!
Thanks for the nice comment on my blog.
These are great images for Independence Day. Who knows? Maybe Betsy Ross was a quilter.
Fabulous and timely post, Vera. Thanks a lot for your thoughtfulness.
Yep, I'm sure she would have been a quilter. Thanks for the nice pictures.
Three cheers for the red, white and blue . . . and Betsy Ross, too *s*
I think she would have been a quilter and a blogger! Cute post!
Happy Independence Day! I think there is always room for more than one quilter or sewer, the more the merrier. So if she wasn't the first, I'm sure she was in line somewhere. What nice pictures!
Sigh. As one of the naysayers -- well, what can I say? The legend surrounding Mrs. Ross is sweet. So are many legends surrounding Americans in history (George Washington didn't chop down that cherry tree, Paul Revere's portion of the ride was only 6 miles -- the guy who went 100+ miles is little if at all known, etc.). They make good copy. They make people feel good about themselves. They also make bad history. This is problematic for me. I hope to teach high school history. So what do I teach? The feel good story of Mrs. Ross? Or what can be proven by reliable evidence (the only true evidence for the Ross flag story comes from her relatives -- nearly 100 years after the fact)?
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