Robert Greenhow (1800–54), physician, public official, and historian, was born in Richmond. Having graduated in 1816 from the College of William and Mary, in 1821 he received a medical degree from New York’s College of Physicians and Surgeons (later part of Columbia University) with a dissertation on galvanism. Greenhow continued his training for a time in Paris, then established a medical practice in New York City, and served as librarian of the New-York Historical Society for several years during the 1820s. A skilled linguist, he shifted careers in 1831 to become a translator for the United States Department of State, a position he retained until 1850. Greenhow authored important studies while in this post, some of which proved useful to those interested in southern and western American expansion: The History and Present Condition of Tripoli (1835), The History of Oregon and California, and the Other Territories on the North-West Coast of North America (1844) and, published posthumously, The History of Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and California, and of the adjoining countries, including the whole Valley of the Mississippi (1856). In 1850 he moved to California to practice land law. At the time of his death in San Francisco, Greenhow was an associate law agent for the United States Land Commission (ANB; DAB; William and Mary Provisional List, 19; Thomas, Columbia University Officers and Alumni, 199; New York Patron of Industry, 7 Apr. 1821; New York National Advocate, 28 Aug. 1823; New-York Evening Post, 27 Jan. 1824; New-York American, 13 Jan. 1825; Longworth’s New York Directory [1825]: 200; [1828]: 283; Alexandria Gazette, 29 Apr. 1850; Daily Richmond Times, 1 May 1850; San Francisco Daily Alta California, 28 Mar. 1854).

Following his visit to Monticello, one of TJ’s granddaughters remarked that greenhow was “very amusing indeed I think, and seems to have some information on every subject, which he is so willing to impart to others, that he talks incessantly, no doubt even in his sleep.” She added that “we have a promise that he will visit us every year, and I heard Grand-Papa and sister Ellen agree that he would be more agreable when the gloss of Europe was a little worn off” (Virginia J. Randolph [Trist] to Nicholas P. Trist, 27 Nov. 1823 [RC in DLC: NPT]).

ille super gangem … fulmine compescet linguæ: “That voice shall fill the earth and be heard beyond the Ganges and the peoples of India; with the thunders of his tongue Cicero shall quell the frenzy of war” (Silius Italicus, Punica, 8.408–10, in Silius Italicus: Punica, trans. J. D. Duff, Loeb Classical Library [1934; undated reprint], 1:422–3).