“Here lies the woman who made the first banner containing the stars and stripes after that honored old ensign had been adopted, June 14, 1776.”
July 4, 1876 speech given by E.M. Pennington in Basking Ridge, NJ
June 14 commemorates Flag Day, the birthday of the first U.S. flag, which was supposedly made by Betsy Ross (1752-1836) at the request of George Washington. It is also the best-known symbol of America. Mrs. Ross, a seamstress, has been disputed as to the original designer, but apparently, Ross came up with the idea of five-point stars. According to Ross’s grandson, Ross was visited in her home in June 1776 by Robert Morris, George Ross (her husband’s uncle), and George Washington, who asked her to create a new nation’s flag. Betsy was only 24 years old at the time.
Born in Gloucester City, New Jersey, on January 1, 1752, Betsy died in Philadelphia at 84 on January 30, 1836. She was the eighth of seventeen children and was raised a Quaker, but she was shunned by that denomination after eloping with John Ross, an Anglican/Episcopalian, on November 4, 1773.
John Claypoole was born in 1752 to an artisan and merchant family in Philadelphia. He was an early supporter of the American Revolution. In 1781, the British ship Enterprise captured his ship off the coast of Ireland, and Claypoole became a prisoner of war, first in Ireland and then at the notorious Old Mill Prison in Plymouth, England.
John Claypoole’s personal chest is now on permanent display at the Museum of the American Revolution in the “War at Sea” gallery.
Today, Betsy Ross’s officially listed grave is at the Betsy Ross House on Arch Street in Philadelphia. Or is it? Is it correct, or is it just a front?
Betsy learned of her 2nd husband’s death from her old friend, John Claypoole, another sailor imprisoned at the brutal Old Mill prison. After Claypool’s release from prison, on May 8, 1783, Betsy was married for the third time, the ceremony performed at Christ Church. Her new husband was none other than old friend John Claypoole.
Betsy Ross Claypoole convinced her new husband to abandon the life of the sea and find land-lubbing employment. Claypoole initially worked in her upholstery business and then at the U.S. Customs House in Philadelphia. The couple had five daughters: Clarissa Sidney, Susannah, Rachel, Jane, and Harriet, who died at nine months.
Claypoole passed on in 1817 after years of ill health, and Betsy never remarried.
Accounts that Betsy Ross Claypoole was buried in Basking Ridge were prevalent in the early 1900s. In 1995, when researching a book about the Bernards Township Library, I found scrapbooks compiled by the late Dr. William Pennington that revealed clippings about the Ross burial in Basking Ridge.
The earliest mention was in a speech given by E.M. Pennington (his relationship to Dr. Pennington is unknown) on July 4, 1876. He stated, “Here lies the woman who made the first banner containing the stars and stripes after that honored old ensign had been adopted, June 14, 1776.” The speech was made near the revered old oak tree (in Basking Ridge, NJ).
The Betsy Ross House reported that the seamstress had been buried three times due to city expansion. One problem is that the Presbyterian Church’s burial records are incomplete. Ross was married three times and died as Mrs. John Claypoole. Her late first and second husbands were John Ross and Joseph Ashburn, respectively.
Ironically, the local historical society had a large framed broadside announcing the 100th Anniversary of America’s freedom with a parade, picnic, etc., an oration delivered by E.M. Pennington, noted orator, on July 4, 1876. In his speech, he referred to the fact that “beneath our feet are the mortal remains of the woman who sewed our first stars and stripes.”
In a July 4, 1876, centennial address, a noted orator referred to a spot under the oak tree as the final resting place of Betsy Ross, maker of America’s first flag. In 1901, Sexton John Craig recalled seeing a tombstone for Betsy Ross but said it had mysteriously disappeared. There are 35 Revolutionary War veterans and those of the country’s other wars buried at the cemetery.
The second reference in Dr. Pennington’s scrapbooks was a June, 1901 news clipping: “Oak Marks Grave of Betsy Ross”; “Maker of the First American Flag Buried Under a Giant Tree in Basking Ridge”; “Her Headstone Has Been Stolen”.
“Betsy Ross Supposed Grave to be Remarked”; “Under the Oak Shown Here Lies the Supposed Body of Betsy Ross.”
Philadelphia North American on June 21, 1902 about Basking Ridge, NJ
The article stated that residents of Basking Ridge were about to raise a fund “to mark the spot in the old Presbyterian Cemetery where they say lies the body of Betsy Ross.”
A Sunday, June 16, 1901 headline read :
“Oak Marks Grave of Betsy Ross”. A sub-heading added “Maker of the First American Flag Buried Under A Giant Tree In Basking Ridge.” Beneath the branches of the oak is Mrs. John Claypoole, known in history as Betsy Ross, the maker of the first American flag. The village people are very proud of the fact that the remains of Betsy Ross rest in the old burial ground.” But the article went on to add that her “very comely tombstone” had been stolen two years earlier. Villagers apparently believed the tombstone was taken by “some historic relic hunters.”
A second article from the Philadelphia North American on June 21, 1902, carried the headline “Betsy Ross Supposed Grave to be Remarked”. “Residents of Basking Ridge were about to raise a fund to mark the spot in the Old Presbyterian Church where they say lies the body of Betsy Ross,” the article said…” John Craig, the venerable sexton of the church, always points out to visitors the location of the grave at the foot of the giant oak.”
Two other sources made a passing reference to the alleged burial site. The Revolutionary War Scene in New Jersey, written by Robert V. Hoffman in 1942, and “History of Basking Ridge,” based on a play by the Church of St James Holy Name Society in 1950. Inquires to the Betsy Ross House, Public Library of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Historical Society, and The Philadelphia Inquirer proved negative. Officials insist Betsy Ross was interred in a park next to the home where she and her family lived at Arch Street in Philadelphia.
In 1942, a book about the revered historic 600-year-old white oak in Basking Ridge, The Revolutionary Scene in New Jersey, includes: “The tradition persists that Betsy Ross, who made the first American flag, is buried in the yard.” Authorities in Philadelphia deny any truth to the above-mentioned references; however, Betsy Ross was married three times: John Ross, Joseph Ashburn, and John Claypoole. Presumably, she would have been listed as Elizabeth Claypoole at her death. In the 19th Century, Claypoole families were residing in the Morristown area. John Claypoole was Betsy’s third husband.
Over the past two decades, more than half a dozen references to this story have been uncovered in the Brick Academy archives and the Bernards Township Library history room files. The first mention appeared in a clippings scrapbook compiled by retired physician Dr. William Pennington, who lived around the turn of the 19th century and spent much of his life collecting newspaper articles.
Learn about the first official American flag. Hint: it wasn’t the Betsy Ross flag!
The First American Flag and Middlebrook, New Jersey
The original article was written by Bernards Township Historian June O. Kennedy, who was in the newsletter in May 2009 and June 2004.
Updated: Bernards Township Local Historian Brooks Betz.
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