WILLIAMS, EVAN (1719 - 1748), Congregational minister and revivalist

Born 6 January 1719 at Abercrave, Brecknock - a brother to William Evans (1716 - 1770), Cwmllynfell. He came from a religious family. It is probable that he was at Joseph Simmons's school at Swansea or Neath. In the bitter controversy between Calvinism and Arminianism at Cwmllynfell he joined the party of Howel Harris and Daniel Rowland. He was a true revivalist both by nature and by conviction. In 1742 he returned to Cwmllynfell. An Evan Williams, Carmarthen Presbyterian Academy, received a grant from the Congregational Fund in 1743. Perhaps he entered the Academy that year but travelled much throughout the country to preach between 1743 and 1745. The epic of his career was his strange journey to Caernarvonshire, where he was cruelly persecuted. He is named as 'minister' of Cwmllynfell in the licence of 1744. He went to Carmarthen Academy in 1745 and received a grant of two pounds from the Congregational Board on 5 October 1747. He died 20 August 1748 after a long illness following upon his Caernarvonshire journey. Edmund Jones, Pontypool, said that he was unequalled as a preacher, a devoted Scripture student, and that, had he lived he would have been famous throughout Wales as a preacher.

Author

• Reverend John Dyfnallt Owen, (1873 - 1956)

Sources

• Robert Jones (Rhoslan), Drych yr Amseroedd (Trefriw 1820)
• Hanes Eglwys Cwmllynfell (1935), 11-13
• Llawlyfr Undeb Ystradgynlais, 1950
• Edmund Jones, A Sermon … occasioned by the Death of Mr. Evan Williams … to which is added some Account of his Life and Death (1750)
• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, ii, 146; iii, 44
• Walter J. Evans, NLW MS 10330B: Carmarthen Presbyterian College roll of students

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733048

Published date: 1959

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