Betsy Ross

1. Betsy Ross • Betsy Ross • Betsy Ross presenting the first American flag to General. • Betsy Ross (January 1, 1752 – January 30, 1836) • Betsy Ross was born to Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James Griscom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. • She grew up in a household where the plain dress and strict discipline of the Society of Friends dominated her life. • She learned to sew from her great-aunt Sarah Elizabeth Ann Griscom. • Her great-grandfather Andrew Griscom, a Quaker carpenter, emigrated in 1680 from England. • On June 15, 1777, she married her second husband, mariner Joseph Ashburn. • Ross's body was first buried at the Free Quaker burial ground on North 5th Street. • In 1793, Betsy’s mother, father, and sister died within days of each other from the yellow fever, leaving Betsy to raise her niece. • In 1812, Betsy and John’s young, widowed daughter Clarissa moved into their home with her five young children and a sixth on the way.

2. Benedict Arnold • Benedict Arnold • was a general during the American Revolutionary Wa • Arnold was a merchant operating ships on the Atlantic Ocean • Arnold began the war as a captain in Connecticut's militia, a position to which he was elected in March 1775. • In 1755, Arnold, attracted by the sound of a drummer, attempted to enlist in the provincial militia for service against the French, but his mother refused permission • In 1757, when he was sixteen, he did enlist in the Connecticut militia, which marched off toward Albany and Lake George. • Arnold's mother, to whom he was very close, died in 1759. • Arnold was hardworking and successful. • On February 22, 1767, Arnold married Margaret Mansfield, daughter of Samuel Mansfield. • Arnold traveled to Montreal, where he served as military commander of the city until forced to retreat by an advancing British army that had arrived at Quebec in May. • Arnold made a number of friends and a larger number of enemies within the army power structure and in Congress.

3. THOMAS HUTCHINSON • THOMAS HUTCHINSON • Hutchinson was born in Boston, a great-great-grandson of the seventeenth-century nonconformist, Anne Hutchinson. • Hutchinson’s political career began in 1737, when he was elected a Boston selectman. • Thomas Hutchinson could have been the most successful American political figure of the eighteenth century. • In 1754, Hutchinson played a major role in the Albany Congress, where representatives from seven colonies, • He died suddenly in 1780. • Hutchinson had a deep interest in colonial history, collecting a large number of historical documents. • He wrote a three volume History of the Province of Massachusetts. • In 1742 Hutchinson was again elected to the General Court, where he served until 1749, being the body's speaker from 1746 to 1749. • One of Hutchinson's instructions was to relocate the provincial assembly from Boston to Cambridge,. • In 1734 he married Margaret Sanford, a granddaughter of Rhode Island Governor Peleg Sanford.

4. William Franklin • William franklin • William Franklin (ca. 1730 – November 1814). • was an American soldier, attorney, and colonial administrator, the acknowledged illegitimate son of Benjamin Franklin. • He was appointed as the last Colonial Governor of New Jersey (1763–76). • As his father (Benjamin Franklin) was one of the most prominent Patriots and a Founding Father of the United States, their differences caused an irreconcilable break between them. • Franklin was a steadfast Loyalist throughout the American War of Independence. • In 1763, William Franklin was appointed as the Royal Governor of New Jersey, due to his father's influence with the British Prime Minister. • After the Declaration of Independence on 4 July, Franklin was formally taken into custody by order of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, an entity which he refused to recognize, regarding it as an "illegal assembly“. • William Franklin's wife Elizabeth died in 1777. • On 14 August 1788, the widower William married Mary Johnson d'Evelin, a widow with children, as his second wife. • His father never accepted his position.

5. Samuel Adams • Samuel Adams • Many cousins of Samuel Adams were also notable citizens of Boston and important figures in the founding of the United State • His first cousin was John Adams, Jr. • Adams became an accountant at a business owned by Thomas Cushing, a lawyer and future governor of Massachusetts. • Samuel Adams was born September 27, 1722. • Samuel Adams studied as a youth at Boston Latin School, also the alma mater of John Hancock and Ralph Waldo Emerson. • In 1736 Adams entered Harvard University and studied a range of subject. • Samuel Adams served Massachusetts in drafting its state constitution and was elected lieutenant governor in 1789. In 1765, Samuel Adams was elected to his colony's local government, the Massachusetts Assembly. The first Continental Congress convened in September of 1774 with Samuel Adams as a founding member. Adams stayed in the Congress until 1781.