Wednesday, March 15 at 7 p.m. in the Coolidge Theatre at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro, the Deane Center’s History Comes Alive Series will continue with Jill Lawrence portraying Betsy Ross, the woman who designed and made the first American flag.

After the performance, the audience will be invited to ask Lawrence questions.

Betsy Ross was an American upholsterer who was credited by her relatives in 1870 with making the first official U.S. flag known as the Betsy Ross flag.

Most historians dismiss the story but Ross family tradition holds that General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and two members of a congressional committee—Robert Morris and George Ross—visited Mrs. Ross in 1776. 

Mrs. Ross convinced George Washington to change the shape of the stars in a sketch of a flag he showed her from six-pointed to five-pointed by demonstrating that it was easier and speedier to cut the latter. There is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate the story of the first U.S. flag, which apparently surfaced in the writings of her grandson in the 1870s.

Ross made flags for the Pennsylvanian navy during the American Revolution. After the Revolution, she made U.S. flags for over 50 years, including 50 garrison flags for the U.S. Arsenal on the Schuylkill River during 1811. 

For many years, Lawrence welcomed visitors from all over the world as Betsy Ross at the Betsy Ross house in Philadelphia.

She has been an adjunct professor at Camden County College, a writer and tour guide for Once Upon A Nation and a guest storyteller at the National Archives in Washington.

Lawrence performed with the Ziggaraut Theater in Los Angeles, The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, American Family Theaters and The Philadelphia Shakespeare Festival, to name a few.

Lawrence earned her BFA with honors in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and her high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

The History Comes Alive Series will end on Wednesday, April 12 with Robert Gleason portraying William Penn. 

Those who purchased a series ticket for $75 will be admitted to the March and April shows.

Tickets for each of the two remaining shows are $15. Children 12 and under accompanied by a paying adult are admitted free. 

For tickets call 570-724-6220 or visit www.deanecenter.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. the night of each performance, if available.