THOMAS, ZACHARIAS (1727 - 1816), Baptist minister

Born at Esgair-ithri, Caeo, 13 (or 24?) August 1727, the youngest of five children born to Thomas Morgan Thomas and Jane, his wife, previously of Ty-Hen in the same parish, and brother of Joshua Thomas, Leominster and Timothy Thomas ' I,' Aberduar. He was baptized at Maes-y-berllan in 1748, during an apprenticeship at Hay, but returned and became a member at Pant Teg on the occasion of his marriage in 1754 to Jane (died 3 December 1781, aged 54), daughter of Rees Thomas from the Llandysul district. Six children were born to him, among them being David Thomas (1756 - 1840) of Llwyn-y-wermwd, a prominent supporter of the cause at Bethel (Caeo) and Bwlch-y-rhiw, and Benjamin Thomas (1761 - 1835), minister at Prescott, Devon (see Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies, vi, 276).

He began to preach there in 1757, but in 1762 moved to Beudyau, Caeo, to assist his brother Timothy as pastor of Aberduar and its branches, and was ordained there in 1771 as co-pastor with David Saunders ' I ' and David Davies - as co-pastor because apparently of a difference of opinion on the rite of laying on of hands. In 1790, after some years of anxiety arising from the expiry of the lease of Beudyau, he moved to Llwyn-y-wermwd, Llan-y-crwys, where he remained until his death on 16 January 1816 at the age of 89. He was buried at Bwlch-y-rhiw.

Author

• Benjamin George Owens

Sources

• Seren Gomer, 1820, 361-5
• Hanes y Bedyddwyr ymhlith y Cymry: o amser yr Apostolion, hyd y flwyddyn hon: yn ddwy ran (Caerfyrddin 1778) (1885 ed.), 388, 431, 526, et seq.
• NLW MSS 7166, 10785, 12357
• Josiah Thomas Jones, Geiriadur Bywgraffyddol o Enwogion Cymru (Aberdâr 1867-70), ii, 571-2

Additional Links

• VIAF: 68805464
• Wikidata: Q20738197

Published date: 1959

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