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Joseph Priestley's Childhood
Joseph Priestley was born in Fieldhead, England, on March 13, 1733. He had two brothers and two sisters. His mother died when he was six years old, and his father raised the children alone.
When Joseph was nine, he went to live with his Aunt Sarah. Sarah sent him to different schools, where he learned religion, math, Latin, Hebrew, and grammar.
Joseph became very interested in experimenting. When Joseph was eleven, he did his first experiment to find out how long spiders would live in bottles without fresh air. When he was nineteen years old, he went to Daventry Academy to study the ministry. When Joseph was twenty-two years old, he taught religion and science and continued to teach throughout his life.
Joseph's Life In England
In 1761, when Joseph was twenty-eight years old, he taught school at Warrington Academy in England. While he was there, he married a woman named Mary Wilkinson. Joseph and Mary had four children, Joseph Jr., William, Sarah, and Henry, whose nickname was Harry.
Joseph depended on Mary to take care of all the household work while he taught school and worked in his laboratory. Sometimes, Joseph and Mary played a few games of chess before bedtime.
Joseph Priestley's Laboratory
While Joseph lived in England, he met many important people and made many friends. One of his friends was the American scientist, Benjamin Franklin. They both enjoyed experimenting with electricity. With Franklin's help, Priestley wrote a book about electricity.
Joseph loved science, and he enjoyed experimenting with air and gasses. In 1767, Joseph invented carbonated water, which later led to the invention of soda pop. In 1774, Joseph discovered his most famous gas - Oxygen.
Although Joseph had many friends, there were many Englishmen who did not like him because of his ideas about religion and politics. On July 14, 1791, a group of angry Englishmen destroyed Joseph's laboratory, his house, and his church. After this riot, Joseph and Mary were left with nothing, so they decided to leave England.
The Move to America
Joseph and Mary's three sons sailed to America in 1793. In 1794, Joseph, who was sixty-one, and Mary, decided to join their sons. They traveled to the little village of Northumberland on the Susquehanna River in Central Pennsylvania. The village only had one hundred houses then. At first, Joseph did not want to live in Northumberland, but he and Mary grew to like it. They decided to build a house there. The house took four years to build and was finished in 1798.
Joseph's Last Years in Northumberland
In 1796, Joseph's youngest and favorite son, Henry, died when he was eighteen, and his wife Mary died a year later. This made Joseph very sad. He invited his oldest son, Joseph Jr., and his wife Elizabeth to come and live with him in the new house. Joseph Jr. and Elizabeth had five children, making the Priestley house a very busy place.
Joseph and his son often traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to visit friends. While in Philadelphia, Joseph and his son went to the Unitarian church that Joseph helped to establish.
Another one of Priestley's American friends was Thomas Jefferson. Priestley and Jefferson worked together to plan students' classes at the University of Virginia.
While Joseph lived in Northumberland, he did many exciting things. He still enjoyed science, and he continued to do experiments. He was called the "Father of Modern Chemistry." In 1799, Joseph discovered the poisonous gas Carbon Monoxide. Joseph also wrote many different books about history, science, and religion, and he collected over 1,600 books in his library. Above all things, Priestley loved and studied religion. He was the first Unitarian minister in America, and he held many church services in his home. He also taught school for boys in his house because he enjoyed teaching.
Joseph Priestley lived in his Northumberland home for only six years, but he achieved many things while living there. He died in his library on February 6, 1804, at the age of seventy-one.
If you would like to learn more about Joseph Priestley, visit the Joseph Priestley House in Northumberland, Pennsylvania.