This account is taken from an earlier effort by William J. Weston and the writer, published  in 2004, partly commemorating the bicentennial of Joseph Priestley’s death.  That, in turn, was a revision of an earlier history written by Bill Weston in the early 1990’s.  Many of the revisions came from his later research, some of which appeared as “A Bit of History” in The Phoenix, monthly newsletter of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley (Northumberland, PA). The most drastic revisions for which I am responsible concern the pulpit and the organ. Bill’s writing concerning the sanctuary is conflicted and I deleted the implication that the present setup is original.  With regard to the organ, James McFarland, the man who restored it, gave me information which differed in several respects from what Bill wrote and, in such cases, I used McFarland’s version.

I received a lot of help from many friends, for which I am grateful; to attempt an enumeration would be to risk missing some.  The sources given at the end are Bill’s.

Finally, we are all tremendously indebted to the myriad people of the Northumberland community; the Northumberland Civic Club, the Northumberland County Historical Society, and the Priestley Chapel Associates; who with great effort kept the Priestley Memorial Chapel vital and sound through years of disuse and near-neglect.  The present structure  and grounds are a monument to them as well as to Joseph Priestley.

--Richard E. Nellis
9/25/06

The printed version of this history was published in commemoration of the bicentennial of the life and legacy of Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) for Priestley Chapel Associates, P.O. Box 333, Northumberland, PA 17857.