Hi folks. Let me introduce myself. But you probably already know me.

By some crazy cyber-miracle, I have been given the power to speak in this blog, a power I certainly was never given during my lifetime.  You know me as Betsy Ross, although this name was not my given name, nor was it my name for many years of my life.

In 1989 this professor named Michael Frisch tried a famous experiment with students in his introductory American history course. At the beginning of the semester, he gave them a simple test, and asked them to write down the first ten names that came to their minds at the prompt, "American history from the beginning to the Civil War." Of course, George Washington topped the list, followed by Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and other national heroes. Then he asked them to do the same thing again, this time excluding "presidents, generals, and statesmen." In seven out of eight years, ME, Betsy Ross, was number one; no other woman even came close to me in student recall; in fact, sometimes I was the only woman included on some of the students' lists.  It's kind of heart-warming that I was the only woman students knew in American history.  And kind of ironic too, because I never thought of myself as a particularly heroic person; I wasn't even patriotic most of the time (though I kept these thoughts to myself, of course). 

I was born Betsy Griscom, one of 17 children, on Januray 1, 1752.  I lived until I was 84 -- a nice long life, so I have no complaints.  My first husband was John Ross, and my family forbid me to marry him (he was an Episcopal and I was a Quaker).  We eloped anyway, and even though I had two more husbands and I was married to my 3rd husband, John Claypool, for over 20 years, my truest love was my first John.  Notice that I kept my first John's name?  No one seems to question that fact.  If I'd taken my 3rd husband's name, you'd know me as Betsy Claypool, creator of the first American flag.  Why did I keep John Ross' name?   Why don't any of the important history scholars ask this question?

You know me as Betsy Ross.  Supposedly I made a great contribution to America by sewing that flag.  Supposedly I am one of the most famous women in American history prior to the Civil War.  Supposedly, I'm a woman to be admired because I was a great patriot and seamstress.  Yes, I was indeed a great seamstress who took pride in my work and who worked long hours in my shop and who kept my business going despite the deaths of three husbands, tending to an ill husband for two decades,  and raising seven children.  But patriot?  Creator of the American flag?  Well, that's another story.