Robert Newell was a fur trapper, pioneer, State legislator, and Indian agent of Oregon.
Robert Newell was a fur trapper, pioneer, Oregon State legislator, Indian agent, and a member of a commission sent by Oregon's Provisional Government to hold council with Indian tribes on the Columbia River after the Whitman Massacre.
Nez Perce Indian agent.
Robert Newell traveled to the Willamette Valley, Oregon, via the Columbia River in 1841. He was a member of the legislative committee that formed the first laws of the Oregon territorial government in 1843. He became an interpreter for the Nez Percé Indians and in 1868 was sent to Washington D.C. as part of the commission to negotiate the Nez Percé treaty with the United States government. While in Washington D.C., he was appointed Agent of the Nez Percé Agency. He died in 1869 on land granted to him by the Nez Percé.
Robert Newell, pioneer and trapper, was born March 30, 1807 near Zanesville, Ohio. He traveled west to the Oregon Country in 1840. He served as a member of the legislative committee of Oregon's provisional government (1843-1848) and was appointed peace commissioner following the Whitman Massacre (1847). He also worked as the director of the Oregon Printing Association, which published the Oregon Spectator newspaper. After moving to Idaho in 1861, Newell was chosen special commissioner and Indian agent at Lapwai (1862-1868). He died at Lewiston, Idaho in 1869.