She Was The 8th Of 17th Children In A Devoted Revolutionary Family

On January 1, 1752, Elizabeth Griscom was born to Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James Griscom. The fact that Betsy's paternal great-grandfather immigrated from England to America in 1680 and became one of Philadelphia's first proprietors meant that she was already a fourth-generation American, notwithstanding the year. Her father participated in the construction of Independence Hall's bell tower. The family had strong ties to the neighborhood and practiced Quaker religion. They hold a prominent social role in the developing metropolis as a result of all these elements.

Elizabeth Griscom, or Betsy, was born on January 1st, 1752 in Gloucester City, New Jersey. She was the seventh of Samuel and Rebecca James Griscom's 17 children. Only nine of the children lived to maturity; two of the siblings passed away before Betsy was born; two of the sisters passed away when they were five and seven years old, respectively. When Betsy was four and fifteen, their two brothers, both called Samuel, died, and when she was twenty, a smallpox outbreak claimed the lives of three-year-old twins. Such family bloodshed wasn't rare at the time.