She Outlived Her Three Husbands

When the Revolutionary War started in 1775, two years after their marriage, John Ross, a soldier in the Pennsylvania Provincial Militia, was tasked with guarding supplies. Unfortunately, a gunpowder explosion claimed his life. At age 24, Betsy became a widow without having a child, maintained the upholstery business at a store on Arch Street, along with producing tents and blankets, fixing clothes, and making musket balls for the Continental Army.

Betsy wed Joseph Ashburn, a seaman, as her second spouse on June 15, 1777. When the Royal Navy seized Ashburn's ship in 1780, he was accused of treason and imprisoned in England's Old Mill Prison. Zilla, his first child with Betsy, passed away while he was there, and Eliza, a second daughter, was born. In 1780, he passed away in Old Mill, and Betsy was informed by John Claypoole, a fellow prisoner. She married John Claypoole, her third husband, in 1783. Their 34-year marriage was happy. Sadly, Claypoole passed away in 1817 after struggling with his health for many years. Together, they had five daughters: Clarissa, Susanna, Jane, Rachel, and Harriet, who passed away when she was just a newborn.