Flag Day Revives Ross Mystery

By June O. Kennedy

(This article was originally published in the May 2009 issue of Inside the Brick Academy, p. 5)

June 14 commemorates the birthday of the first U.S. flag, made by Betsy Ross at the request of George Washington.  Mrs. Ross, a seamstress, did not design the flag, but apparently came up with the idea of five-pointed stars. Born in Philadelphia on January 1, 1752, she died there at the age of 84 on January 30, 1836. Today, her officially listed grave is at the Betsy Ross House on Arch Street in the city.

Accounts that Ross was buried in Basking Ridge were prevalent in the early 1900s.  When doing research for a book about the Bernards Township Library in 1995, this writer found scrapbooks compiled by the late Dr. William Pennington which revealed clippings about the Ross burial.

The earliest mention, however, was in a July 4, 1876 speech given by E.M. Pennington (relationship to Dr. Pennington not known).  He states “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 in the vicinity of the revered old oak tree. 

The second reference in Dr. Pennington’s scrapbooks was a June 1901 news clipping: “Oak Marks Grave of Betsey Ross”; “Maker of the First American Flag Buried Under a Giant Tree in Basking Ridge”; “Her Headstone Has Been Stolen”.

In a newspaper, the Philadelphia North American in 1902, the headlines read: “Betsy Ross Supposed Grave to be Remarked”; “Under the Oak Shown Here Lies the Supposed Body of Betsy Ross.”

In 1942, a book about the revered 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, there were Claypoole families residing in the Morristown area.