MORGAN, OWEN (Morien; 1836? - 1921), journalist and miscellaneous writer

who died on 16 December 1921 (Western Mail), was then said to have been over 80, and to have been a son of Thomas T. Morgan and his wife, Margaret, of Pen-y-graig, Rhondda. He had sedulously concealed his age. But the bishop's transcripts for Ystradyfodwg parish record the christening on 23 February 1836 of ' Owen, son of Thomas and Margaret Owen of Dinas [Rhondda], collier ', and it seems pretty certain that this is our man, for Dinas adjoins Pen-y-graig. He asserted connection with the families of Morgan of Llantarnam and Thomas of Llanmihangel, Glamorganshire. As a journalist, he worked chiefly for the Western Mail, from 1870 to 1899, when he retired. His books, such as Pabell Dovydd (on Druidism), Kimmerian Discoveries (on the 'Chaldean origins' of the Kymry), A Guide to the Gorsedd, etc., reflect the influence of Iolo Morganwg's fictions, and more immediately Morien's close association with Myfyr Morganwg, on whose death he assumed the title of ' archdruid,' in succession. His History of Pontypridd and the Rhondda Valleys (Pontypridd, 1903), an odd jumble of 'Druidism,' mythology, topography, local history and biography, is yet not without value, for its information on the 19th century development of the valleys.

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• His own account in Who's who in Wales, 1921 edn.
• articles in Y Geninen, 1922, 100-3
• information from the Keeper of Printed Books in the National Library of Wales

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Owen Morgan

Additional Links

• VIAF: 49015645
• Wikidata: Q16037844

Published date: 1959

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