ELLIS, JOHN GRIFFITH (1723/4 - 1805), Methodist exhorter

Christened 2 February 1723/4 at Tudweiliog, Caernarfonshire, converted in 1741 by Howel Harris at Towyn, Tudweiliog, when a servant with William Griffith, Cefn Amwlch. He represented the societies of south Caernarvonshire at an Association at Lampeter, February 1748, when he was persuaded, after opposing, to continue communicating in the Established Church, and was appointed superintendent of the societies; as such, he reports to Howel Harris from Penllech, 20 April 1748, but in a P.S. it is said that he would not be at the Carmarthen Association in May following - a hint of something gone wrong. Ellis is conjectured to have been disciplined by Harris in July 1749. But he was present with William Griffith of Cefn Amwlch at Garth, Brecknock, in November 1748, and preached, so William Jones, Trefollwyn (1718 - 1773?), writes, every evening. Siarl Marc was the superintendent of south Caernarvonshire societies in 1750; Ellis, therefore, may well have been the man turned out by Harris in 1749. But he was exhorting again in 1751, as Thomas William of Eglwys Ilan (1717 - 1765) reports to Harris; he was also one of the trustees of Ty Mawr chapel, appointed in 1752; it is also reported that he preached at the first Association in Caernarvonshire, held at Clynnog, before 1769. He fell away later for many years owing to drink, but overcame that weakness and is found preaching again at Caergeiliog in 1788 and 1796, and in Liverpool in 1799, and in 1800, with Thomas Charles, Thomas Jones, Denbigh, and Richard Lloyd, Beaumaris. John Elias, in his first society-meeting in 1793 at Hendre Howel, Penmorfa, mentions John Griffith Ellis as having been present. He was a man of undoubted ability and is so described by men who knew him, such as Robert Jones of Rhos-lan. His lapse was at the time a most serious blow to Methodism in North Wales. He died in 1805 (buried at Nefyn, 19 September).

Author

• Reverend William Griffith, (1916 - 1972)

Sources

• Accounts of Caergeiliog Methodist Society (N.L.W.)
• Biography of J. Elias, 15
• R. Bennett, Methodistiaeth Trefaldwyn Uchaf, 1738–1852 (1929), 129, 154, 172/3
• Y Drysorfa, 1837, 153
• W. Hobley, Hanes Methodistiaeth Arfon, i, 74
• Hughes, Methodistiaeth Cymru (1851–6), i, 103; ii, 136
• Robert Jones (Rhoslan), Drych yr Amseroedd (Llanrwst 1841), 71, 186
• Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, vi, 18; xi, 81; xxvi, 450-476; xxxiii, 31-38; xxxiv, 2-6
• J. Morgan Jones and W. Morgan, Y Tadau Methodistaidd (1895-1897), i, 116
• W. Griffith, John Griffith Ellis, 1723-1805, Llyn, 'Cynghorwr pennaf Llyn': Pennod yn hanes Methodistiaeth Fore Llyn (Caernarfon 1957)

Additional Links

• VIAF: 53442266
• Wikidata: Q20821429

Published date: 1959

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