According to the story, upholsterer Betsy Ross was
commissioned to make a flag for a new nation in early May, 1776. It took her
the better part of a month to complete the task. The original design called for
a circle of thirteen 6-pointed stars, but Betsy recommended stars with five
points. The congressional committee protested that five points would be too
difficult, whereupon she took a piece of paper, folded it deftly, and with a
single snip of scissors produced a symmetrical five-pointed star. Betsy died at the age of 84, after outliving
three husbands. She was initially interred in a Quaker burial ground and 20
years later moved to a family plot in Philadelphia’s Mt. Moriah Cemetery. In
1975 the city ordered her remains to be moved to the courtyard of the Betsy
Ross House in preparation for the bicentennial celebration. But when they tried
to exhume the body, no remains were found under her tombstone.
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