Welcome to Call to Decision 

 American Minute with Bill Federer

 January 2

 A 3-cent stamp honoring Betsy Ross was issued in Philadelphia,
 January 2, 1952, commemorating the 200th anniversary of her birth.

 Born a day earlier, January 1, 1752, to a Quaker family in
 Philadelphia, Betsy was the 8th of 17 children.

 She apprenticed as a seamstress and fell in love with upholsterer
 John Ross, son of an Episcopal rector at Christ Church and nephew of
 Declaration signer, George Ross.

 As Quakers forbade interdenominational marriage, John and Betsy
 eloped, being married by New Jersey Governor William Franklin, Ben
 Franklin's son.

 They attended Christ's Church with Jefferson, Hamilton and Franklin,
 and their pew, number 12, was near George Washington's.

 During the Revolution, John Ross died when a munitions depot he was
 guarding blew up.

 Shortly after, in June 1776, General Washington reportedly asked
 Betsy Ross to sew an American Flag.

 In 1777, Betsy married sea captain Joseph Ashburn at the Old Swedes
 Church. That winter the British forcibly quartered in their home.

 Joseph Ashburn later sailed to the West Indies for war supplies, but
 was captured and sent to Old Mill Prison, where he died in 1782.

 Fellow prisoner, John Claypoole, brought news to Besty, only to fall
 in love with her himself.

 Betsy married John Claypoole at Christ Church, May 8, 1783, and
 together they had 5 children.