Elizabeth Phoebe Ross Griscom: A Brief Biography

679 Words2 Pages

I, Elizabeth Phoebe Betsy Ross Griscom was born on January 1, 1752 in Philadelphia, when I was three years old we moved into a large home on 4th and Arch streets. My parents are Samuel and Rebecca Griscom, my dad is a successful carpenter. I was the eighth child out of my 17 brothers and sisters. As I grew older people known me as a seamstress, but I was actually a trained upholsterer. After I finished school, I was a student to a well-known and gifted upholsterer. Over the years, I learned how to make and fix curtains, rugs, umbrellas, bedcovers, and other tasks that involved sewing. Still under John Webster I fell in love with John Ross who was also a fellow student to John Webster. John R. was an Anglican and the son of the Assistant Rector of Christ Church. Since my family were Quakers, they did not …show more content…

On June 15, 1777, I remarried to Joseph Ashburn who was a mariner and was frequently at sea, leaving me, a new mother, at home. During 1780, the British captured the ship Joseph was on and the crew was charged with treason and taken to prison in Plymouth, England. While he was imprisoned not only that he was gone but I suffered the loss of my first daughter, Zilla, at nine months and our second daughter Eliza was born. Joseph never heard of Zilla’s death and did not get the chance to see our new daughter, because he had died of an unidentified illness the British released the American prisoners in 1782. On May 8, 1783, I remarried to an old friend John Claypoole. By the next year, I returned to my Quakers roots where we joined the Society of Free Quakers. In 1793, I discovered a great loss, my parents and sister have died within days between each other from yellow fever, which left me to look after my niece. In 1812, John’s young, widowed daughter moved into our home and brought her five children with the sixth one on its way, which meant a full house of kids to care of for me and

Open Document