Chapter History

The Reprisal Chapter NSDAR was organized on November 7, 1896, by Lucy E. Nettleton Bradley in Newport, New Hampshire.

The founding of the chapter was described in the New Hampshire State History of the Daughters of the American Revolution (1930) as follows:

"One of the most important and enterprising towns in the state is Newport. Its charming village homes are clustered around a shady boulevard, with the waters of the Sugar River making sweet melody and the protective arms of the surrounding hills thrown round about it.

Here, with rare efficiency, Mrs. Arthur C. Bradley has gathered together a band of twenty-one women, full of earnest purpose and high aspirations. November 7th was the natal day of the Reprisal Chapter. This quaint name, suggested by the regent, was that of 'the first ship-of-war to carry the flag of the United States into European waters after the immortal Declaration and as such her name stands forth in our naval annals with signal luster and enduring fame.' Its meetings are seasons of enjoyment, and great results are predicted when time shall have given opportunity therefor. Their first work was to glean all particulars concerning the brilliant, though brief career of the cruiser, Reprisal."

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Charter Members

Lucy E. Nettleton Bradley (Organizing Regent)	Lucy Ella Wilmarth Barton	Georgia Bernard Chase
Frances Matson Burke Dana	Marcia Josephine Edes	Laura Robinson Hall
Ellen Elizabeth Chapin Kimball	Marian Kimball	Maude Isabel Bibby Lewis
Grace Lincoln Nourse Lovell	Typhena Maria Metcalf McCann	Mary Emma Wilmarth McCrillis
Effie Booth Nourse	Mary Elizabeth Partridge	Lizzie Maria Farnsworth Richards
Louisa Frances Hatch Richards	Ella Grace Robinson	Ellen Hannah Rogers
Marcia Baldwin Nourse Spofford	Ella Maria Wilmarth	Alice C. Booth Woodbury

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Our Real Daughter

A Real DAR Daughter is distinguished because she was the daughter of a Revolutionary War patriot who became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution after it was founded in 1890. There are 767 Real Daughters and New Hampshire has twenty-eight.

In January 1897, Mrs. Malvina Chapin Rowell (left) became a member of the Reprisal Chapter NSDAR.

Mrs. Rowell was the daughter of Revolutionary War patriot Daniel Chapin of Connecticut. Chapin was born in Somers, Connecticut in 1758, and settled in the northwest part of Newport on the farm once known as the Frederick Chapin place. He died in 1831, and is buried in North Newport cemetery.

Mrs. Rowell was a native of Newport. She was an 1841 graduate of Mount Holyoke Seminary, and the following year married Rev. George Rowell. Shortly thereafter, she and her husband arrived in Honolulu as the first missionaries to the Hawaiian Islands. Fifty years later, in 1893, she returned to the continental United States to live with her daughter, Mrs. George S. Gay, in California. Mrs. Rowell died in 1905. She is buried in the Hillside Memorial Park in Redlands, California.

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Historian General (2019 - 2022), Vice President General (2014 - 2017) and Honorary State Regent (2010 - 2013)

The Reprisal Chapter NSDAR is proud to be the home of Historian General, Vice President General and Honorary State Regent Laura McCrillis Kessler. Mrs. Kessler is a direct descendant of Reprisal charter member Mary Emma Wilmarth McCrillis. Her patriot ancestor is John McCrillis.

Admitted in 1988 to the Bill of Rights Chapter NSDAR, Woodbridge, Virginia, Mrs. Kessler transferred to the Reprisal Chapter NSDAR in 1989. She has served as chapter regent (1995 - 1999), vice regent, chaplain, and historian. Mrs. Kessler also served as chairman of the Children of the American Revolution and Junior Membership Committees. She is a chapter director and member of The Little Red School House Committee.

Her NHSODAR state service includes state regent, state vice regent, state chaplain; state chairman of Children of the American Revolution, DAR School, DAR Museum Outreach, The Flag of the United States of America, Junior Membership, New Hampshire's National Junior Doll, Page and By-laws Committees. She served as a member of the New Hampshire Children's Attic Commission, NSDAR Speaker's Staff, State Finance and New Hampshire State History Committees, and served as personal page to State Regents Dalton and Jollimore.

While serving as chapter regent, Mrs. Kessler was selected as the New Hampshire Outstanding Junior (1996).

Mrs. Kessler's national service includes Historian General, Vice President General, national chairman of American History, DAR Good Citizens and Americanism Committees. She has served on the Congressional Committees for the President General's Reception Room, Platform Committee, and Page. Mrs. Kessler served as national vice chairman northeast division for the Membership Committee. She is a member of the National Vice Chairmen's Association and has served as president, first vice president, second vice president. In 1996, she was the Northeast Division Outstanding Junior. Mrs. Kessler is a DAR Chorus member and a volunteer genealogist. She served as New Hampshire state campaign manager for the Wagoner Associates, Calvin Associates, and Wright Associates, and is the narrator for the "The DAR Library" video, NSDAR (2009).

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USS Reprisal

The USS Reprisal was purchased on March 28, 1776, by the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress. She was fitted out as a brig of eighteen six-pound guns, and placed under the command of Captain Lambert Wiekes.

The Continental armed brig Nancy had been sighted and chased by six British men-of-war as she was returning from St. Croix with 386 barrels of gunpowder. Attempting to save the Nancy, the captain ran her ashore. Captain Wiekes of the Reprisal and Captain John Barry of the Lexington, were able to save about 200 barrels of powder. Before quitting the Nancy, they laid a train of gunpowder which, when the Nancy was boarded by the British, blew up.

On October 24, 1776, Captain Wieks was ordered by Congress to Nantes, France; taking to his post the new Commissioner to France, Benjamin Franklin. En route, the Reprisal captured two brigs, and reached Nantes on November 29. Flying the Flag of the United States, the Reprisal was the first vessel of the Continental Navy to reach European waters.

On September 14, 1777, the Reprisal left France for the United States. About October 1, she was lost off the banks of Newfoundland. All on board, with the exception of the cook, went down with her.