Robert "Doc" Newell (March 30, 1807 – November 24, 1869), was an American politician and fur trapper in the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

. He was a frontier doctor in what would become the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. A native of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, he served in the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, a ...

and later was a member of the

Oregon State Legislature The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the Ho ...

. The

Newell House Museum The Newell House Museum, also known as the Robert Newell House, is located in Champoeg, Oregon, United States. Built by Oregon politician Robert Newell in 1852, the house was acquired in 1952 by the Oregon State Society, Daughters of the American ...

, his reconstructed former home on the

French Prairie French Prairie is located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, in the Willamette Valley between the Willamette River and the Pudding River, north of Salem. It was named for some of the earliest settlers of that part of the Oregon Country, Fr ...

Champoeg Champoeg ( , historically Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 398.) is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the W ...

, is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Early life

Newell was born on March 30, 1807, in

Zanesville, Ohio Zanesville is a city in and the county seat of Muskingum County, Ohio, United States. It is located east of Columbus and had a population of 24,765 as of the 2020 census, down from 25,487 as of the 2010 census. Historically the state capita ...

.Corning, Howard M. (1956) ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. In 1829, Newell joined

William Sublette William Lewis Sublette, also spelled Sublett (September 21, 1798 – July 23, 1845), was an American frontiersman, trapper, North American fur trade, fur trader, explorer, and mountain man. After 1823, he became an agent of the Rocky Mountain Fu ...

and his group on a party to trap beaver. Others in the group included

Joseph L. Meek Joseph Lafayette "Joe" Meek (February 9, 1810 – June 20, 1875) was a pioneer, mountain man, law enforcement official, and politician in the Oregon Country and later Oregon Territory of the United States. A trapper involved in the fur trade b ...

and

Jedediah Smith Jedediah Strong Smith (January 6, 1799 – May 27, 1831) was an American clerk, transcontinental pioneer, frontiersman, hunter, trapper, author, cartographer, mountain man and explorer of the Rocky Mountains, the Western United States, and ...

. He trapped fur in the region west of the

Rockies The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

in the 1830s, and married Kitty, a

Nez Perce The Nez Percé (; autonym in Nez Perce language: , meaning "we, the people") are an Indigenous people of the Plateau who are presumed to have lived on the Columbia River Plateau in the Pacific Northwest region for at least 11,500 years.Ames, K ...

woman in 1833. During his time as a

mountain man A mountain man is an explorer who lives in the wilderness. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s (with a peak population in the early 1840s). They were instrumental in opening up ...

, he became so skilled at basic surgery and healing, despite not having professional medical training, that he earned the nickname "Doctor" or "Doc" Newell that stayed with him the rest of his life. In 1840, he moved permanently to

with his brother-in-law Joseph Meek. They settled on the

Tualatin Plains The Tualatin Plains are a prairie area in central Washington County, Oregon, United States. Located around the Hillsboro and Forest Grove areas, the plains were first inhabited by the Atfalati band of the Kalapuya group of Native Americans. Euro ...

, arriving on December 25 on the plains with two head of cattle. This was the first time that a wagon completed the journey from

Fort Hall Fort Hall was a fort in the western United States that was built in 1834 as a fur trading post by Nathaniel Jarvis Wyeth. It was located on the Snake River in the eastern Oregon Country, now part of present-day Bannock County in southeastern Ida ...

to the

Columbia River The Columbia River (Upper Chinook: ' or '; Sahaptin: ''Nch’i-Wàna'' or ''Nchi wana''; Sinixt dialect'' '') is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, C ...

along the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what ...

. The following year, they brought the first wagon into the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

Oregon

In 1842, Newell helped to establish the

Oregon Lyceum The Oregon Lyceum or Pioneer Lyceum and Literary Club was founded in Oregon City, Oregon Country around 1840. The forum was a prominent fixture for the leading pioneer settlers during its brief existence. It would begin publishing the first Ameri ...

Oregon City, Oregon ) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map ...

. He would later become the director of the Oregon Printing Association that grew out of the Lyceum and started the first newspaper west of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

, the ''

Oregon Spectator ''The Oregon Spectator'', was a newspaper published from 1846 to 1855 in Oregon City of what was first the Oregon Country and later the Oregon Territory of the United States. The ''Spectator'' was the first American newspaper west of the Rocky M ...

''. At the May 2, 1843, settler meeting Newell voted in favor of creating a provisional government in the region. The vote passed 52 to 50 and a Provisional Legislature was created. Newell served in that body from 1843 until it was replaced with the

Oregon Territorial Legislature Oregon's Territorial Legislature was a bicameral legislative body created by the United States Congress in 1848 as the legislative branch of the government of the Oregon Territory. The upper chamber Council and lower chamber House of Representati ...

in 1849, although he resigned during the final session. During the 1847 meeting of the group, Newell served as Speaker of the body. Newell’s first wife died in 1845 and was buried at Champoeg. Her gravesite is accessible to visitors at the current Champoeg State Heritage Area. He remarried in 1846 to Rebecca Newman. After the

Whitman Massacre The Whitman massacre (also known as the Walla Walla massacre and referred to as the Tragedy at Waiilatpu by the National Park Service) was the killing of the Washington missionaries Marcus Whitman and his wife Narcissa, along with eleven others ...

and during the ensuing

Cayuse War The Cayuse War was an armed conflict that took place in the Northwestern United States from 1847 to 1855 between the Cayuse people of the region and the United States Government and local American settlers. Caused in part by the influx of disease ...

, he was appointed as a peace commissioner. In that role, on March 7, 1848, he negotiated to keep the Nez Perce tribe out of the war. Newell was then appointed as

Indian agent In United States history, an Indian agent was an individual authorized to interact with American Indian tribes on behalf of the government. Background The federal regulation of Indian affairs in the United States first included development of t ...

for the tribes located south of the

in the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...

before moving to California to mine during the

California Gold Rush The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...

in 1849. In 1850, he returned to Oregon where he platted the

townsite with Andre Longtain. From 1855 to 1856 he was the commander of a company of army scouts during the

Rogue River Wars The Rogue River Wars were an armed conflict in 1855–1856 between the U.S. Army, local militias and volunteers, and the Native American tribes commonly grouped under the designation of Rogue River Indians, in the Rogue River Valley area o ...

. In 1860, Newell was elected to the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 65,000. The House meets in the west wing of the ...

after Oregon achieved statehood in 1859. He served as a Democrat representing Marion County.Oregon Legislative Assembly (1st) 1860 Regular Session.
Oregon State Archives. Retrieved on January 30, 2008. Most of Champoeg was wiped away during an 1861 flood, although Newell's house, situated on high ground, was one of the few to survive.The Robert Newell House.
Newell House Museum. Retrieved on January 30, 2008. Newell almost bankrupted himself taking in victims of the flood.

Later years

After the 1861

Willamette River The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward b ...

flood, Newell moved to

Lapwai, Idaho Lapwai is a city in the northwest United States, in Nez Perce County, Idaho. Its population was 1,137 at the 2010 census, and it is the seat of government of the Nez Perce Indian Reservation. Lapwai actually means "The land of the butterflies" H ...

where he worked as an interpreter and commissioner for the army outpost at that location from 1862 to 1868. His second wife died in May 1867, and he married a third and final time in 1869 to Mrs. Ward. In 1868, he went to Washington, D.C., along with several Indian chiefs, to attempt to amend some treaties between the United States and the Native American tribes. United States President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

then appointed him as an Indian agent that year. Robert Newell died on November 24, 1869 in

, from a heart attack. He fathered five children by his first wife, and eleven by his second wife. After his death, several Native American tribes granted him of land in what is now Lewiston, with the deed dated June 9, 1871.

Legacy

A replica of Robert Newell's 1852

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

house is in Champoeg State Heritage Area. It is run as a

house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a v ...

by the Oregon State Society of the

Daughters of the American Revolution The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in the United States' efforts towards independence. A non-profit group, they promote ...

, who rebuilt the badly deteriorated house in time for the

Oregon Centennial The Oregon Centennial was the 100th anniversary of the statehood of the U.S. state of Oregon. The day of the anniversary was February 14, 1959, but centennial events took place throughout the year. Festivities were held all over the state, with the ...

in 1959. The house retains some of the original architectural details, including some of the windows.

References

External links