Although the evidence is not solid, most historians point to upholsterer Betsy Ross (1752-1836) as the woman who sewed the first U.S. flag.

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress, on a motion from John Adams, adopted the stars and stripes as the national flag. History leaves its students with very few clues as to who designed and created the original flag, but it has been long attributed to the Philadelphia seamstress and upholsterer Betsy Ross. So widely accepted is the story of this legendary flagmaker, the United States government issued a commemorative postage stamp in 1952 in celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of her birth.

Elizabeth Griscom was the eighth of 17 children born to Samuel and Rebecca Griscom. Her father operated a building business, which had been established by her great-grandfather Andrew Griscom, who had emigrated from England in 1680. Raised and educated as a Quaker, she was disowned...