OLIVER, DAVID (fl. 1785-1814), Baptist minister

He seems to have been a Rhondda man; at least he was there when the Particular Baptist church was set up at Ystradyfodwg, where he was baptized in 1785. He began preaching in 1786, and was ordained in 1789. In the 1799 Baptist schism, Oliver sided with the General (Arminian) Baptists, and for a year or two succeeded in retaining the chapel (Nebo); but by 1802 he had advanced from Arminianism to Unitarianism. He was minister of the 'Old Meeting' at Aberdare from 1803 to 1806, and of Gellionnen from 1806 till the latter part of 1814. His name recurs in the Monthly Repository in the years 1807-13, in the reports of the assemblies of General Baptists and Unitarians alike - the latest mention is that he was to preach in the Unitarian Association of 12 December 1813. But on 24 December 1814, Seren Gomer reports his reception into the Independent denomination - he was then living at Llangyfelach. He died at an unknown date before the publication (1839) of David Jones's history of the South Wales Baptists - 'in slight repute,' says that zealous Baptist.

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• David Jones, Hanes y Bedyddwyr yn Neheubarth Cymru (1839), 603-4
• Yr Ymofynnydd, July and September 1930
• and the above references

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20732875

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/