Our Real Daughter

A Real Daughter is a rare distinction in the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. These women were the actual daughters of American Revolutionary War Patriots who became DAR members after its founding in 1890. Only 767 Real Daughters are recorded in the history of the organization, and New Hampshire claims 28 of them.

One of these women was Mrs. Malvina Jerusha Chapin Rowell, who joined the Reprisal Chapter, NSDAR, in January 1897.

Mrs. Rowell was the daughter of Daniel Chapin of Connecticut, an American Revolutionary War Patriot. Born in Somers, Connecticut, in 1758, he later settled in the northwest part of Newport on what became known as the Frederick Chapin farm. He died in 1831 and is buried in the North Newport Cemetery.

Malvina Chapin was born in Newport and graduated from Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1841. The following year, she married Rev. George Rowell, and together they traveled to Honolulu as the first missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. After 50 years abroad, she returned to the continental United States in 1893 and lived with her daughter, Mrs. George S. Gay, in California.

Mrs. Rowell died in 1905 and is buried in Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands, California.