Josiah Gregg

Josiah Gregg was born in Overton County, Tennessee – the youngest son of Harmon and Susannah (Smelser) Greggs' seven children. In 1812 his family settled at Cooper's Fort in Howard County, and later moved to Jackson County. Sickly, shy and studious, he taught school near Liberty, Missouri, in 1824, then moved with his family to Independence to study law and surveying. By 1830 he was seriously ill with consumption (tuberculosis) and chronic dyspepsia (a painful digestive disorder). After several bedridden months and unable to sit on a horse, Gregg took his doctor's advice and made his first Santa Fe trip in the spring of 1831 with a merchant caravan. His health quickly improved, and Gregg was hired as a bookkeeper by Jesse Sutton, one of the merchants with whom he later formed a partnership. He returned to Missouri in the fall of 1833 and set out again as caravan wagon master. By the end of the decade he had traversed the plains eight times, drawing maps and keeping detailed notes. He learned Spanish and by 1840 was a successful merchant. In 1844 his two-volume Commerce of the Prairies was published and became an immediate success. Five editions were printed within a decade. It remains the cornerstone for all studies of the Santa Fe Trail. Gregg enrolled at the University of Louisville medical school in 1845 and was granted a medical degree. After the outbreak of the Mexican-American War he served as an interpreter, guide, mapmaker and war correspondent for the Arkansas volunteers. He practiced medicine in Saltillo, Mexico, until the spring of 1848. Having a lifelong interest in botany, he joined a botanical expedition to western Mexico and California, corresponding and sending specimens to the eminent botanist George Engelman in St. Louis. The American Botanical Society added the Latin name greggi in his honor to twenty-three species of plants. In 1849 Gregg sailed for San Francisco to join in the gold rush. In October of that year he led an exploring party through uncharted redwood forests to Humboldt Bay in northern California. Exhausted from vigorous travel, near-starvation, and continuous exposure to severe weather, Gregg died as a result of a fall from his horse. He is buried near Clear Lake, California. It is unknown if he married or had children.