SIERRA SACRAMENTO VALLEY |
PIONEER PHYSICIANS
Henry Ridgley Greathouse, MD (1804-1852)
Additional Information*
Dr. Greathouse did not live to see his talented attorney son acquire the controlling interest and become the editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, or in 1887, accept the post of Consul General of Japan. Clarence later accepted an offer from the King of Korea to serve as Legal Consul to the Throne.
Dr. Greathouse had other prominent relatives. Three nephews, George, Henry and Ridgley Greathouse established a stage line from Shasta City and other cities in northern California. They mined near Yreka, where they owned a bank and other enterprises. During the Civil War, Ridgley Greathouse and another Confiderate sympathizer obtained a schooner, the J. M. Chapman, which they planned to outfit as a privateer. It would capture the steamers coming out of San Francisco Bay laden with gold from California and silver from Nevada which would be delivered to the Confederacy. Union sympathizers alerted the Union Navy which sent a sloop to board the Chapman and arrest the crew. Ridgley was sent to Alcatraz for 10 years and subsequently moved to Fort Lafayett in new York where he escaped to Canada and then to England.
Another nephew, Lucien Philip Greathouse, was the youngest of Colonels in the Union Army. He was killed in the battle of Atlanta at age 22. Orders promoting him to Brevet Brigadier General were received a day after his death.
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*Physician information research provided by Dr. Irma West