DAVIES, OWEN (1840 - 1929), Baptist minister

Name: Owen Davies
Date of birth: 1840
Date of death: 1929
Spouse: Sarah Jane Davies (née Ellis)
Parent: Owen Davies
Gender: Male
Occupation: Baptist minister
Area of activity: Religion
Author: Edward Morgan Humphreys

Born at Cae Plan, a farm near Pwllheli, 8 October 1840?. His father, Owen Davies, was cousin to David Owen Dewi Wyn o Eifion, (1784 - 1841). Educated at Llanystumdwy and Yokehouse, Pwllheli, he was afterwards apprenticed to a draper in Pwllheli, and at the age of 18 became an assistant in a draper's shop in S. Asaph. While at S. Asaph he began to preach. In 1862 he entered the Baptist College at Llangollen, being one of the first six students. He was pastor at Holywell (1865), Llangollen (1867), and Caernarvon (1876). At Caernarvon he succeeded Robert Ellis (Cynddelw, 1810 - 1875). He retired in 1905. From 1892 to 1895 he was secretary to the North Wales Baptist College, Bangor, and from 1895 to 1915 lecturer on homiletics and pastoral theology on the college staff. He was the first secretary of the Welsh Baptist Union, and chairman in 1888. [See article on John Rufus Williams, which indicates that he would have been co-secretary of the Welsh Baptist Union, since John Rufus Williams also held the post from its foundation.] For a period he edited Yr Athraw, and he was editor of Y Greal from 1871 to 1918. He married, 1872, Sarah Jane, daughter of Owen and Catherine Ellis, of Bryn y Pin, Conway; they had a son and three daughters. He died 30 May 1929, and was buried in the new cemetery, Caernarvon; his widow died 22 November 1939. Owen Davies was in the foremost rank of Welsh preachers of his period and a leader of influence in his denomination. He was the author of several books, amongst them being Welsh biographies of John Pritchard, 1880, Christmas Evans, 1898, Robert Jones, Llanllyfni, 1903, and a history of the Welsh Baptists, 1905.

Author

Published date: 1959

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