POWELL, JONATHAN (1764 - 1823), Independent minister

Born at Defynnog, Brecknock, in 1764. He began to preach at Godre-rhos, Glamorganshire, and in 1790 received a call to Rhayader, Radnorshire, where he was ordained and where his subsequent career was stormy. He appears to have been a stern disciplinarian and insisted on excommunicating some members who showed a tendency towards Sabellianism. The church, however, refused to endorse his action and he decided to leave. In 1798 he went to Anglesey to take charge of the churches of Rhos-y-meirch and Capel Mawr. At that time there were very few ministers in the island and he had a hand in founding a number of new Independent chapels, twenty-eight of which were registered as places of worship in the course of his ministry. He was a gifted and able man, a diligent student who was regarded as one of the leading men of his denomination in North Wales. He translated a number of English books into Welsh and was a hymn-writer of some distinction. In 1796 he published a small book of hymns of his own writing, Llawenydd yn Nglyn Wylofain, and in 1805 another, Y Credinwyr yn Angau, adapted from the work of Thomas Watson. He wrote an elegy upon Richard Tibbot, 1798. In 1821 he retired because of ill health. He died 6 July 1823, and was buried in Rhos-y-meirch chapel burial ground.

Author

• Reverend Richard Griffith Owen, (1890 - 1973)

Sources

• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, ii, 460
• Y Dysgedydd, 1823, 257
• Y Geninen, 1895, 97
• Josiah Thomas Jones, Geiriadur Bywgraffyddol o Enwogion Cymru (Aberdâr 1867-70), ii, 409
• W. A. Griffiths, Hanes Emynwyr Cymru (Caernarfon 1907), 127-8
• Y Caniedydd Cynulleidfaol Newydd casgliad o donau, emynau, côr-ganau, ac anthemau (London 1921), hymns 332 and 510

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733693

Published date: 1959

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