Here are some items that were mentioned during the 4 July 2013 Fieldstone Common interview with Marla Miller about her book Betsy Ross and the Making of America.

The podcast of the interview is now available.

Betsy Ross and the Making of America, published by St. Martin’s Press, is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

You can learn more about Marla Miller at her website.

Marla Miller’s first book was The Needle’s Eye: Women And Work in the Age of Revolution (UMass Press, 2006). Her next book, to be published August 2013, is Rebecca Dickinson: Independence for a New England Woman.

Betsy Ross and the Making of America takes a look beyond the myth of Betsy Ross to discover the real woman behind the legend. Betsy Ross was a Quaker from Philadelphia. She was born Elizabeth Griscom, daughter of Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James. Her immigrant ancestor Andrew Griscom arrive in the colonies in 1680.

Betsy was married first to John Ross with whom she had no children. She then married Joseph Ashburn. They had two daughters but one of which died as an infant. Her third marriage to John Claypoole was the longest lasting until his death in 1817. They had many daughters together. Betsy died January 30, 1836.

There are few extant records specifically about Betsy Ross, though her account books should exist.  Perhaps they exist today in some attic in the midwest? If you’re a descendant of Betsy Ross or you have materials with the name Elizabeth Claypoole or Betsy Claypoole written on them please contact me or contact Marla Miller directly. Marla would be very interested in seeing those items!

St. Martin’s Press, the publisher of Betsy Ross and the Making of America, donated two copies of the book which were provided as giveaways during the live show to listeners in Kentucky and Massachusetts. A big thank you to the St. Martin’s Press for their generosity!

Fieldstone Common’s sponsor is Houstory, makers of the Home History Book and the Heirloom Registry. Fieldstone Common listeners can take 15 % off their Heirloom Registry order by visiting the Heirloom Registry at www.heirloomregistry.com, and entering FIELDSTONE – in all caps – at checkout.

Fieldstone Common greatly appreciates the support of Houstory as a sponsor. Show your support for Fieldstone Common by visiting our sponsor’s site.

BROADCAST: THURSDAY, 4 July 2013 at 1:00pm EDT

This week on Fieldstone Common, Marian Pierre-Louis interviews Marla Miller, author of Betsy Ross and the Making of America.

Beyond the legend of the creation of the American flag, we know very little about the facts of Betsy Ross’ life. Perhaps with one snip of her scissors she convinced the nation’s future first president that five-pointed stars suited better than six. Perhaps not. Miller recovers for the first time the full story of Betsy Ross, sharing the woman as she truly was. Miller pieces together the fascinating life of this little-known and much beloved figure, showing that she is important to our history not just because she made a flag, but because she embraced the resistance movement with vigor, reveled in its triumphs, and suffered its consequences.

Marla Miller, a historian of early American women and work, has made a career uncovering the lives of women who left little in the way of documentary record. She is a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and directs the Public History program there. She has won the Organization of American Historians’ Lerner-Scott Prize for the best dissertation on women’s history and the 1997 Walter Muir Whitehill Prize in Colonial History.