JAMES, JOHN (1777 - 1848), Baptist minister, hymn writer, bookbinder, and printer
Date of birth: 1777
Date of death: 1848
Spouse: Catherine James (née Davies)
Parent: Elizabeth John (née Jones)
Parent: James David John
Gender: Male
Occupation: Baptist minister, hymn writer, bookbinder, and printer
Area of activity: Literature and Writing; Poetry; Printing and Publishing; Religion
Author: Benjamin George Owens
Born at Aberystwyth 29 August 1777, the eldest of eight children of James David John and Elizabeth Jones. He was baptized there on 27 March 1796, and became a member of Bethel church. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker, but started to preach in September 1799, and after a course of study of some months at Cardigan and Aberystwyth, he became co-pastor, with Samuel Breeze, of Bethel church and its branches. After a period of exceptional activity in the town and in the surrounding districts, he moved, in March 1817, to Pont-rhyd-yr-ynn, Monmouth, and, in May 1827, to Bridgend, where he died on 30 January 1848. On 30 September 1804 he had married Catherine Davies, a member of Bethel, Aberystwyth, and three children were born to them. He was also taught the craft of bookbinding, and in May 1808 he opened a book-shop at Aberystwyth. In May 1809 he established the first printing press in the town, in his house in Bridge Street, but it was not a financial success, and he was obliged, in September 1812, to sell his share of the business to his partner. The best-known publication from the press was Pigion o Hymnau, 1811, a collection of hymns of his own composition. He also published Etholedigaeth wedi ei Hystyried mewn Pregeth (Carmarthen, 1808), and Hanes Cymdeithas Llundain er Taeniad Cristianogrwydd y'mhlith yr Iuddewon (Aberystwyth, 1811). NLW MS 692C contains sermons and memoranda in his hand.
Author
- Benjamin George Owens
- John Evans, Cofiant y diweddar Barch. John James, gweinidog y Bedyddwyr yn Mhenybont-ar-Ogwy, ac ysgrifenydd y gymanfa y perthynai iddi dros ugain mlynedd: yn cynwys hanes ei fywyd, ei lafur, ei lwyddiant, ei nodweddiadau, ei farwolaeth, &c., ynghyd â rhai o'i bregethau (Caerdydd 1849), 1849
- Hanes y Bedyddwyr yn Nghymru, iii, 391, 399
- J. Ifano Jones, A history of printing and printers in Wales to 1810, and of successive and related printers to 1923 (Cardiff 1925), 202-4
Sources
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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