POWELL, HOWELL (died 1716), Congregational minister

Born at Maes y Cletwr, Brychgoed, Brecknock. Nothing is known of his upbringing or of his early education. He was examined, on behalf of the Congregational Board, 29 March 1697, with a view to his being sent for a course of study; he was recommended for the Saffron Walden Academy under Thomas Payne, but his name does not appear in the extant lists of students. The interest shown in him by the Congregational Board proves that he was a man with a special aptitude for the ministry; grants of £5 a year were made to him by the Board in 1697, 1699, 1702, 1703, and 1704. He returned to Brecknock in 1700 and was ordained as minister of Beiliheulog church, which became the spiritual centre of the district. In 1709 he published Y Gwrandawr, a translation of a work by Dr. John Edwards, Oxford; in 1711 he published his translation of a work by Elisha Cole. He travelled much in Brecknock and elsewhere in South Wales, preaching everywhere. He was a learned and cultured man with a gift for expounding the Gospels to country audiences. It was a great loss to Wales when he went to the U.S.A. in 1712. He settled as a Congregational minister at Cohensey, New Jersey, but died there in 1716. William Rowlands (Gwilym Lleyn) erred in describing him as a Baptist.

Author

• Reverend John Dyfnallt Owen, (1873 - 1956)

Sources

• Minutes of Cong. Fund Board, 1696-1704
• Transactions of the Congregational Historical Society, May 1911, 81-2
• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, iv, 346

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733182

Published date: 1959

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