We last visited the graveside of Joseph Priestley in Northumberland, PA, on February 6, 2004, almost 22 years ago on the commemoration of the 200 years since his death. Priestley is as relevant, if not more so, today than when he died there over two centuries ago, shortly after the birth of our nation.
History Today said, "President Thomas Jefferson of the United States wrote to Joseph Priestley, clergyman and chemist, when the latter was seriously ill in 1801, ‘Yours is one of the few lives precious to mankind, for the continuance of which every thinking man is solicitous.’ Not everyone in America or Britain would have agreed with this sentiment. On the contrary, Priestley’s radical views on religion and politics had made England too hot for him. A mob in Birmingham had destroyed his home, his books, and his laboratory with all his apparatus ten years before and he had felt in danger ever afterwards. In 1794, he and his wife, Mary, emigrated to America, where their three sons had already preceded them. After a horrible seasick voyage of eight weeks against contrary winds, they arrived in thick fog in New York City to great acclaim and went on to Philadelphia, where Priestley was again received with flattering attentions."
On the morning of February 6, 1804, at his home in Northumberland, PA, after dictating final revisions to a manuscript which was a memoir of his life, he famously declared, "That is right. I have now done," and passed shortly after, a death marked by his son and family present. He was buried near his home, and his death followed the years of political turmoil in England that led him to emigrate to America.
If you are interested in seeing the post on our visit to his resting place, click here.
