Kitty was of the Nez Perce (Nimi'ipuu)Tribe. Her people occupied the territory now known as Idaho, parts of Wyoming and northeast Oregon. She was born in that territory in about 1822. She married Robert ("Doc") Newell, a fur trapper and mountain man, in about 1834. Her Nez Perce name is not known but Doc Newell called her "Kitty." Newell and fellow trapper Joseph Meek were partners. Four years later, Meek reportedly married Kitty's sister, whom he named "Virginia." Since good relations with the Nez Perce peoples were desirable, Kitty was a valuable partner to her new husband. The trapper's life was very hard, requiring a woman to raise children, make clothing, find and prepare food, and assist with the fur operation while moving from place to place in the wild. Whereas few white women possessed the For these practical reasons, most fur trappers had Native wives. However, by 1840, the Rocky Mountain fur trade was collapsing and the family came to the Willamette Valley, to be farmers, settling east of Champoeg in 1843. Because of diseases introduced by Euro-American settlers, such as malaria and tuberculosis, many Native Americans who had no resistance to these new diseases, died, including Kitty, who passed on in 1845 at about age 24. She left behind her husband, 5 sons and her reported sister, Virginia Meek. Kitty was buried east of Champoeg Creek across from the Newell farm.
