Joseph Ashburn was taken prisoner by the British on the sea, and with the other soldiers was taken to England where he died in Mill Prison, March 3d, 1782. The prisoners were all given an opportunity to enter the British service, and on their refusal were thrown into prison. John Claypoole, a comrade, and also a prisoner of war, nursed and cared for Ashburn until he died. He brought home to his widow, on his release, the diary of Ashburn, together with messages to his wife, with whom he fell in love and afterward married.
John Claypoole, son of William and Elizabeth Claypoole, of Philadelphia, was married to Elizabeth Ashburn (Betsy Ross) the 8th of May, 1783, at Christ Church. His ancestor was James Claypoole, who came to America as the friend of William Penn; and from whom all the Claypooles mentioned are descended. He was a brother of Sir John Claypoole, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Oliver Cromwell.
The children of John and Elizabeth Claypoole were: Clarissa Sidney, born April 3, 1785, 9 a. m.; Susanna, born November 15, 1786, 4 p. m.; Rachel, born February 1, 1789, 7 p. m.; Jane, born November 13, 1793, 7 p. m.; Harriet, born December 20, 1795, 5 a. m., died October 8, 1796.
There is an old Bible over a hundred years old, which has a record of all these births and those of the Ashburn daughters; and of the deaths in the handwriting of John Claypoole. It was “The legacy of Sarah Hallowell to her niece, Elizabeth Claypoole,” that is, Betsy Ross.
John Claypoole was wounded in the battle of Germantown which, with imprisonment and the hardships of war, so impaired his health that he never regained it. So it may be truthfully said that the lives of her three husbands were sacrificed to their country, and her experience in these very important events in her life is certainly heroic. John Claypoole died August 3, 1817.
Betsy Ross attended Christ Church, Philadelphia, with her first husband and after his death continued in attendance until the Free Quaker Society was organized in 1793. The pew in which she sat was quite near one occupied by Gen. Washington, and is marked by a brass plate bearing these words:
“In this pew worshipped Betsey Ross, who made the first flag.”
All Friends who took part in the Revolution were disowned by “The Society of Friends.” After the war, they organized a society of “Free Quakers” often called “Fighting Quakers.”
As the time went by, nearly all were taken back into the original “Society of Friends,” but Clarissa Wilson and John Price Wetherell, of Philadelphia, were the last of the Free Quakers. They used to attend the little meeting house at 5th and Arch streets until there were just the two of them. In the fall of 1830 they decided it was unwise to have the little meeting house heated for them, so after that Clarissa Wilson attended the Orange street meeting house, but was never again received into the original society. She did not wish to be. She died a Free Quaker. Betsy Ross, her mother, lived to be 84 years old and died in 1836. The following are from the original autographs of Betsy Ross and her husband:
