I had always suspected that the Betsy Ross story presented in school was a bit too quaint, too sweet, to be true. Come to find out my pre-teen estimate was truer than not. What can I say; I was a cynical coot with a keen eye for self-serving bull at a very young age.

Sew Tough - The real Betsy Ross was a hard-nosed, snuff-loving businesswoman.
By Ruth Graham:
http://www.slate.com/id/2259351

If anything this, to my eye, makes Betsy Ross seem more human, possibly more American. A woman who went through husbands. Who wasn't a stereotypical demurring woman who was content to stay in the background and spoon feed the men around her. It makes me like her more.