Early days

Henry's grandparents, Hendries and Alexanders, had emigrated from Scotland and arrived at New York (then a small city of 30 000 people) on June 16, 1775. His paternal grandfather was proud of having seen bonnie Prince Charlie ride into Glasgow during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745. Despite his love for his old country he nevertheless changed the family name from Hendrie to Henry, a change for which Joseph Henry was later to express some regret. There is some doubt as to the date of Henry's birth, usually given as December 17, 1797. The records of the Pres­byterian church, a church Henry adhered to for life, give December 9, according his biographer Coulson. But Coulson also records that Henry's cousin, quoting a life insurance policy, was adamant that it was December 1799.

Whatever the date, he was born into an impoverished family with an ailing father. At seven he was sent from Albany in New York State, the family home, to stay with relatives at Galway, some 36 miles away, whilst his mother nursed his father. He stayed about seven years, completed his elementary education and began work in the village shop.

One day, according to the story, his pet rabbit escaped and Henry followed it under the floor of the village church, climbed through some loose floorboards and discovered the village library. There his eyes were opened to a world of books far beyond anything his small school or home had offered. After returning several times in this unconventional manner he was at last discovered and granted access in the normal manner.

Following his father's death, he settled in Albany and started his uninspired apprenticeship as a silversmith. In his leisure time he developed a love for the theatre. This blossomed into a career decision and he turned to acting, writing and producing plays for an active amateur group. The stage was to be his world, until a minor illness changed that.

His mother supplemented her income by taking in boarders. During his sickness one of them lent Joseph an introductory book on science with the rather daunting title "Lectures on Experimental Philosophy, Astronomy and Chemistry". This book inspired him. It became a gift and he kept it for years. As a direct result of reading it he renounced the stage and turned to science. The man we have to thank for lending that book on science chanced to have an appropriate name - Robert Boyle!

The parallel with Michael Faraday is striking. Faraday too was from a poor family; and it was while he was apprenticed to a bookbinder that he chanced to read an introductory book on chemistry which set him on his path to scientific fame.

Henry, realizing that his long-passed elementary education was inadequate for the career he had chosen, now enrolled for night classes in geometry, mechanics and English grammar at the respected Albany Academy. Aged 21, he was much older than the norm. Soon his grammar was good enough to enable him to give private tuition and then to gain a school teacher's post - the only job he ever applied for. The money paid for further study at the Academy.

Before long he was assisting lecturers and preparing himself for a career in medicine. He became librarian of the Albany Institute and gave his first scientific paper in 1824. His studies continued and he undertook survey work, most importantly as surveyor on a project to construct a new road from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. This outdoor project was completed so well that friends tried, unsuccessfully, to get him an appointment as a civil engineer. His surveying for New York State was the only work that ever paid him enough to save money.

In the spring of 1826 he was offered three positions: supervisor for the construction of a canal in Ohio, manager of a mine in Mexico, or Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at the Albany Academy. The teaching position, for that was what it was, won. But it was a close run thing.