DAR MYTH: Betsy Ross Flag

>>8808275.

Stories told over the years can take on mythic proportions and in many cases the embellishments are what keep the story alive from generation to generation. Many people grew up learning that Betsy Ross was the designer of the first American Flag or hearing tales of Sybil Ludington's heroic ride through the night to warn of the British coming. While no evidence has been found that proves the authenticity of these stories, it is just as intriguing to think about how such stories originate and to understand that tales like these are embraced as part of American history along with the facts of the founding of our country.

https://www.dar.org/museum/exhibitions/myth-or-truth-stories-weve-heard-about-early-america

== Birx Scarf-Pelosi Betsy Ross Flag- DAR

DAR : Betsy Ross Flag a myth

https://www.dar.org/museum/exhibitions/myth-or-truth-stories-weve-heard-about-early-america

Since the beginning of the 20th century, the flag has been a popular symbol of American patriotism, though its origin story is based on a questionable family legend.

Betsy Ross (1752 – 1836) was an upholsterer in Philadelphia who produced uniforms, tents, and flags for Continental forces. Although her manufacturing contributions are documented, a popular story evolved in which Ross was hired by a group of founding fathers to make a new U.S. flag. According to the legend, she deviated from the 6-pointed stars in the design and produced a flag with 5-pointed stars, instead. The claim by her descendants that Betsy Ross contributed to the flag's design is not generally accepted by modern American scholars and vexillologists.[2]

Ross became a notable figure representing the contribution of women in the American Revolution,[3] but how this specific design of the U.S. flag became associated with her is unknown. An 1851 painting by Elloie Sully Wheeler of Philadelphia displayed Betsy Ross sewing a US flag, and an 1856 plate glass negative shows a proposed fresco with the Betsy Ross story intended for the Ladies' Waiting Room in the United States Capitol.[1]:109[4] The National Museum of American History suggests that the Betsy Ross story first entered into American consciousness about the time of the 1876 Centennial Exposition celebrations.[5]

In 1870, Ross's grandson, William J. Canby, presented a paper to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in which he claimed that his grandmother had "made with her hands the first flag" of the United States.[6] Canby said he first obtained this information from his aunt Clarissa Sydney Wilson (née Claypoole) in 1857, twenty years after Betsy Ross's death. In his account, the original flag was made in June 1776, when a small committee – including George Washington, Robert Morris and relative George Ross – visited Betsy and discussed the need for a new American flag. Betsy accepted the job to manufacture the flag, altering the committee's design by replacing the six-pointed stars with five-pointed stars. Canby dates the historic episode based on Washington's journey to Philadelphia, in late spring 1776, a year before Congress passed the Flag Act.[7] Ross biographer Marla Miller notes that even if one accepts Canby's presentation, Betsy Ross was merely one of several flag makers in Philadelphia, and her only contribution to the design was cut the easier 5-pointed stars.[8]:176

In 1878, Col. J. Franklin Reigart published a somewhat different story in his book, "The history of the first United States flag, and the patriotism of Betsy Ross, the immortal heroine that originated the first flag of the Union." Reigart remembers visiting his great aunt, Mrs. Betsy Ross, in 1824 during the time of General Lafayette's visit to Philadelphia. In this version, Dr. Benjamin Franklin replaces George Washington. Together with George Ross and Robert Morris, they request that Mrs. Ross design the first flag. The Canby version and the subsequent 1909 book with the Ross family affidavits never specify the arrangement of stars. Reigart, however, describes Mrs. Ross' flag with an eagle in the canton with 13 stars surrounding its head. The cover of Reigart's book shows the 13 stars in a 3-2-3-2-3 lined pattern in the canton.[9]

The circle pattern was again attributed to Elizabeth Griscom Ross in an 1893 painting by Charles H. Weisgerber.[10] The 9 x 12 foot painting was first displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Weisgerber later helped start the foundation that restored 239 Arch Street in Philadelphia as The Betsy Ross House.[11] Weisgerber promoted the story of Betsy Ross by sending prints of the painting to foundation donors. It was reported in 1928 that he received donations from 4 million children and adults.[12] In 1897, the New York City School Board approved the order of framed prints for all schools in their system.[13]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Ross_flag