Mary Young Pickersgill

Mary Pickersgill , was the maker of the Star Spangled Banner Flag hoisted over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. The daughter of another noted flag maker, Rebecca Young, Pickersgill learned her craft from her mother, and, in 1813, was commissioned by Major George Armistead to make a flag for Baltimores Fort McHenry that was so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a great distance. The flag was installed in August 1813, and, a year later, during the Battle of Baltimore, Francis Scott Key could see the flag while negotiating a prisoner exchange aboard a British vessel, and was inspired to pen the words that became the United States National Anthem.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 12, 1776, Mary Young was the youngest of six children born to William Young and Rebecca Flower. Her mother, who became widowed when Mary was two years old, had a flag shop on Walnut Street in Philadelphia where she made ensigns, garrison flags and Continental Colors for the Continental Army. Her 1781 advertisement in the Pennsylvania Packet read, All kinds of colours, for the Army and Navy, made and sold on the most reasonable Terms, By Rebecca Young. Young moved her family to Baltimore, Maryland when Mary was a child, and it was from her mother that Mary learned the craft of flag making.

Source: Wikipedia