OWEN, OWEN (1806-1874), divine and physician

Born in 1806 at Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire, according to Williams, Montgomeryshire worthies , 218, but at Bancyfelin, Carmarthenshire, according to Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, i, 58. Educated for the Independent ministry at Carmarthen (perhaps c. 1830) and Highbury colleges, he held pastorates at Manorbier, Pembrokeshire, and Liskeard, Cornwall. In 1849 he undertook the pastorate of Mill Street chapel, Newport, Monmouth, and though he relinquished it within a few months, he continued to live at Newport until 1854 at least. Subsequently, after joining the Established Church and spending some time at Birmingham, he emigrated to America where he practised medicine at Chicago till his death. Under the pseudonym ' Celatus,' he published the following works of a religious, educational, and scientific nature: The Working Saint, 1843; The Modern Theme, 1848 and 1854; A Glass of Wholesome Water, The Shepherd's Voice, The Taper for lighting the Sabbath School Lamps, c. 1854; The Public Pearl, 1854; and The Sources of Science, 1854. He was also interested in astronomy, and lectured on that subject. His wife was Mary Anne Owen (below), authoress, most of whose fortune, as well as his own, he is said to have spent upon well-intentioned but impracticable projects. He died in 1874.

His wife, MARY ANNE OWEN (died c. 1870), was the daughter of David Beynon and granddaughter of John Beynon of Tre-wern (on the border between Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire), sheriff of Cardiganshire in 1783. In 1752, under the pseudonym 'Celata', she published a small illustrated volume of dialogues and poems for the young, entitled The Early Blossom.

Sources

• R. Williams, Montgomeryshire Worthies (1894), 218-19
• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, i, 58, iii, 379
• The Congregational Year Book, 1849-54
• H. Blackwell, NLW MS 9268A: A Dictionary of Welsh Biography (422)
• Walter J. Evans, NLW MS 10329B: Carmarthen Presbyterian College roll of students (174)

Published date: 1959