Editing Joseph Priestley (section)

==Pennsylvania (1794–1804)==
{{see also|Joseph Priestley House}}

[[File:Priestley.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Joseph Priestley by [[Ellen Sharples]] ({{Circa|1794-97}})]]

[[File:Priestley House Front 2.jpg|thumb|alt=Photograph of a two-story, white clapboard house|The Priestleys' rural Pennsylvania home never became the centre of a [[utopia]]n community, as the expected emigrants could not afford the journey.<ref>Schofield (2004), 329–30.</ref>]]

The Priestleys arrived in New York City on 4 June 1794, where they were [[wikt:fête|fêted]] by various political factions vying for Priestley's endorsement. Priestley declined their entreaties, hoping to avoid political discord in his new country. Before travelling to a new home in the backwoods of [[Northumberland County, Pennsylvania]], at Point township (now the [[Northumberland, Pennsylvania|Borough of Northumberland]]), Priestley and his wife lodged in [[Philadelphia]], where he gave a series of sermons which led to the founding of the [[First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia]]. Priestley turned down an opportunity to teach chemistry at the [[University of Pennsylvania]].<ref>Schofield (2004), 324–32; Thorpe, 155–57; Jackson, 310–14; Holt, 179ff.</ref>

Priestley's son Joseph Priestley Jr. was a leading member of a consortium that had purchased {{Convert|300000|acre|ha}} of virgin woodland between the forks of [[Loyalsock Creek]]. This they intended to lease or sell in {{Convert|400|acre|ha|abbr=out|adj=on}} plots, with payment deferred to seven annual instalments, with interest.<ref>Mary Cathryne Park, ''Joseph Priestley and the problem of Pantisocrasy'' (Philadelphia, 1947), 14–24, 52–57. Penn State University Library, The Joseph Priestley Collection. {{cite web |url=http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/priestley.html |title=The Joseph Priestley Collection |access-date=21 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130624205006/http://www.libraries.psu.edu/psul/digital/priestley.html |archive-date=24 June 2013}} Property inventory assets and debts account book, 1807–1810</ref> His brothers, William and Henry, bought a {{Convert|284|acre|ha|abbr=out|adj=on}} plot of woodland which they attempted to transform into a farm, later called "Fairhill", felling and uprooting trees, and making [[Liming (soil)|lime]] to sweeten the soil by building their own lime kilns.<ref>Tony Rail, "William Priestley vindicated," ''Enlightenment and Dissent'' no. 28 (2012); 150–195. {{cite web |url=http://www.english.qmul.ac.uk/drwilliams/journal/intro.html |title=Dr Williams's Centre for Dissenting Studies |access-date=23 December 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224101831/http://www.english.qmul.ac.uk/drwilliams/journal/intro.html |archive-date=24 December 2013}}</ref> Henry Priestley died 11 December 1795, possibly of [[malaria]] which he may have contracted after landing at New York. Mary Priestley's health, already poor, deteriorated further; although William's wife, Margaret Foulke-Priestley, moved in with the couple to nurse Mary 24 hours a day,<ref>Tony Rail, ''op. cit.'' 161.</ref> Mary Priestley died 17 September 1796.<ref>Rutt, I(ii), 354.</ref> Priestley then moved in with his elder son, Joseph Jr., and his wife Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} [[Thomas Cooper (American politician, born 1759)|Thomas Cooper]], whose son, Thomas Jr., was living with the Priestleys, was a frequent visitor.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

[[File:PriestleyPeale.jpg|thumb|left|upright|alt=Half-length portrait of an elderly man with wispy brown hair. He is wearing a black jacket and a white shirt.|Priestley, painted later in life by [[Rembrandt Peale]] ({{Circa|1800}});<ref>McLachlan (1983), 34.</ref> Americans knew Priestley less as a man of science and more as a defender of the freedom of the colonies and of Dissenters.<ref>Schofield (2004), 326.</ref>]]

Since his arrival in America, Priestley had continued to defend his [[Unitarianism|Christian Unitarian]] beliefs; now, falling increasingly under the influence of Thomas Cooper and Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley, he was unable to avoid becoming embroiled in political controversy. In 1798, when, in response to the [[Charles Cotesworth Pinckney|Pinckney affair]], a belligerent [[John Adams|President Adams]] sought to enlarge the navy and mobilise the militia into what Priestley and Cooper saw as a 'standing army', Priestley published an anonymous newspaper article: ''Maxims of political arithmetic'', which attacked Adams, defended free trade, and advocated a form of Jeffersonian isolationism.<ref>Signed 'A Quaker in politics,' the ''Maxims'' were printed over two days in the ''Aurora General Advertiser'', 26 & 27 February 1798, and reprinted in both the ''Aurora''and ''Carey's United States' Recorder'', 31 March & 1 April 1799. See Rutt, XXV, 175–82.</ref> In the same year, a small package, addressed vaguely: "Dr Priestley in America," was seized by the [[Royal Navy]] on board a neutral Danish boat. It was found to contain three letters, one of which was signed by the radical printer [[John Hurford Stone]]. These intercepted letters were published in London, and copied in numerous papers in America.<ref>''Copies of original letters recently written by persons in Paris to Dr. Priestley in America, taken on board of a neutral vessel'' (London, 1798). ''Federal Gazette'' (Baltimore, MD), 27 August 1798.</ref> One of the letters was addressed to "MBP", with a note: "I inclose a note for our friend MBP—but, as ignorant of the name he bears at present among you, I must beg you to seal and address it." This gave the intercepted letters a tinge of intrigue. Fearful lest they be taken as evidence of him being a 'spy in the interest of France', Priestley sent a clumsy letter to numerous newspaper editors, in which he naively named "MBP" (Member of the British Parliament) as [[Benjamin Vaughan|Mr. Benjamin Vaughan]], who "like me, thought it necessary to leave England, and for some time is said to have assumed a feigned name."<ref>Vaughan had fled to France in May 1794, when [[John Hurford Stone]]'s brother, William, was arrested and found to have a letter from Vaughan. In France, to avoid arrest as an Englishmen, he assumed the name of Jean Martin, and lived quietly at Passy. ([[John Goldworth Alger|John G. Alger]], ''Englishmen in the French Revolution'' (London, 1889), 93).</ref> [[William Cobbett]], in his ''Porcupine's Gazette'', 20 August 1798, added that Priestley "has told us who Mr MBP is, and has confirmed me in the opinion of their both being spies in the interest of France."<ref>Tony Rail, ''op. cit.''; Schofield (2004), 329–38; Gibbs, 234–37; Jackson, 317–18; Garrett, 63; Holt, 199–204.</ref>

Joseph Priestley Jr. left on a visit to England at Christmas 1798, not returning until August 1800. In his absence, his wife Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley and Thomas Cooper became increasing close, collaborating in numerous political essays.<ref>In December 1799, two of Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley's essays, ''On the propriety and expediency of unlimited enquiry'', and ''A Reply to'' [Thomas Cooper's] ''Observations on the Fast Day'' [Cooper had challenged the power of a President to declare a day of fasting and prayer], were published as part of ''Political essays'' (Northumberland, PA, 1799). [Eugene Volokh: "Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley, Early American author on free speech"; ''New York University Journal of Law & Liberty'', 4(2) (2009), 382–85].</ref> Priestley continued to be influenced by Elizabeth and Cooper, even helping hawk a seditious handbill Cooper had printed around [[Northumberland, Pennsylvania|Point township]], and across the [[Susquehanna River|Susquehanna]] at [[Sunbury, Pennsylvania|Sunbury]]. In September 1799, [[William Cobbett]] printed extracts from this handbill, asserting that: "Dr Priestley has taken great pains to circulate this address, has travelled through the country for the purpose, and is in fact the patron of it." He challenged Priestley to "clear himself of the accusation" or face prosecution."<ref>Tony Rail, ''op. cit.'' 166–67.</ref> Barely a month later, in November and December 1799, Priestley stepped forward in his own defence, with his ''Letters to the inhabitants of Northumberland''.<ref>Published in two parts, Northumberland-town PA, 1799; printed by Andrew Kennedy who printed the ''Sunbury and Northumberland Gazette''. A pirate edition seems to have been published at Albany NY for Samuel Campbell of New York. (Robert E Schofield, ''A scientific autobiography of Joseph Priestley'' (Cambridge, MS, 1966), 303).</ref>

[[File:Priestley Graves VIII.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Priestley's original 1804 gravestone in Riverview Cemetery, Northumberland, Pennsylvania; visible at right is part of the new stone, placed in front of it in 1971.]]

Priestley's son, [[William Priestley (Louisiana planter)|William]], now living in Philadelphia, was increasingly embarrassed by his father's actions. He confronted his father, expressing [[John Vaughan (wine merchant)|John]] and Benjamin Vaughan's unease, his own wife's concerns about Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley's dietary care,<ref>Dr Priestley suffered a bilious and bowel condition throughout his adult life, with episodes of severe diarrhoea, for which Margaret Foulke-Priestley seems to have suggested a diet that used maize flour (US Cornmeal), and excluded wheat flour. (Tony Rail, ''op. cit.'' 156, 161).</ref> and his own concerns at the closeness of Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley and Thomas Cooper's relationship, and their adverse influence on Dr Priestley; but this only led to a further estrangement between William and his sister-in-law. When, a while later, Priestley's household suffered a bout of food poisoning, perhaps from [[milk sickness]] or a [[Pathogenic bacteria|bacterial infection]], Elizabeth Ryland-Priestley falsely accused William of having poisoned the family's flour. Although this allegation has attracted the attention of some modern historians, it is believed to be without foundation.<ref>Tony Rail, ''op. cit.''</ref>

Priestley continued the educational projects that had always been important to him, helping to establish the "Northumberland Academy" and donating his library to the fledgling institution. He exchanged letters regarding the proper structure of a university with Thomas Jefferson, who used this advice when founding the [[University of Virginia]]. Jefferson and Priestley became close, and when the latter had completed his ''General History of the Christian Church'',<ref>Priestley, Joseph. ''[https://archive.org/details/ageneralhistory03priegoog A General History of the Christian Church]''. Northumberland: Printed for the author by Andrew Kennedy, 1803.</ref> he dedicated it to President Jefferson, writing that "it is now only that I can say I see nothing to fear from the hand of power, the government under which I live being for the first time truly favourable to me."<ref>Qtd. in Schofield (2004), 339–43.</ref>

Priestley tried to continue his scientific investigations in America with the support of the [[American Philosophical Society]], to which he had been previously elected a member in 1785.<ref>{{cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=joseph%20priestley;smode=advanced |access-date=16 December 2020 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was hampered by lack of news from Europe; unaware of the latest scientific developments, Priestley was no longer on the forefront of discovery. Although the majority of his publications focused on defending phlogiston theory, he also did some original work on [[spontaneous generation]] and dreams. Despite Priestley's reduced scientific output, his presence stimulated American interest in chemistry.<ref>Schofield (2004), 352–72; Gibbs, 244–46.</ref>

By 1801, Priestley had become so ill that he could no longer write or experiment. He died on the morning of 6 February 1804,<ref>Schofield (2004), 400–01; Gibbs, 247–48; Thorpe, 162–65; Jackson, 324–25; Holt, 213–16.</ref> aged seventy<ref>In accordance with known birth-death dates.  His original headstone gives his age as "LXXI" (71).</ref> and was buried at Riverview Cemetery in [[Northumberland, Pennsylvania]].<ref>For the original marker, see {{cite web |title=Edgar Fahs Smith Collection |url=http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/smith/PortraitList.cfm?ScientistID=223&visited=smithScientist |access-date=17 November 2006 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223002710/http://dewey.library.upenn.edu/sceti/smith/PortraitList.cfm?ScientistID=223&visited=smithScientist |archive-date=23 December 2008}}

See also page 153 of {{cite journal |author=Walker, William H. |title=History of the Priestley house and the movement for its preservation |journal=Journal of Chemical Education |year=1927 |volume=4 |pages=150–158 |doi=10.1021/ed004p150 |issue=2 |bibcode=1927JChEd...4..150W}}</ref>

Priestley's epitaph reads:

{{blockquote|<poem>
Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the
Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.
I will lay me down in peace and sleep till
I awake in the morning of the resurrection.<ref>Qtd. in Schofield (2004), 401.</ref>
</poem>}}