OWEN, JOHN (1864 - 1953), minister (Presb. C.W.) and author
Date of birth: 1864
Date of death: 1953
Spouse: Hannah Owen (née Evans)
Parent: Margaret Owen
Parent: James Owen
Gender: Male
Occupation: minister (Presb. C.W.) and author
Area of activity: Literature and Writing; Religion
Author: Gomer Morgan Roberts
Born 17 April 1864 at Pen-y-maes, Morfa Nefyn, Caernarfonshire, son of James and Margaret Owen. He worked in an office in Liverpool for six years, and began preaching in 1884. He was educated at Clynnog School, Bala College, and Oxford (where he graduated in 1892; M.A. in 1903). For a year he was a tutor at Bala College. He was ordained in 1892, and served as pastor of Gerlan, Bethesda (1892-1902), Bowydd and Blaenau Ffestiniog English church (1902-09), and Engedi, Caernarfon (1909-26). He married Hannah Evans, Nantlle, but they had no children. He returned to Morfa Nefyn when he retired. He died 1 March 1953 at the Royal Infirmary, Liverpool, and was buried in Nefyn cemetery.
He was a prominent figure in the Presb. Church of Wales, being twice Moderator of the North Wales Association (1920 and 1949), and Moderator of the General Assembly (1926). He delivered the Davies Lecture in 1923, which was published under the title Gwybodaeth y Sanctaidd (1923). He contributed extensively to the periodicals of his denomination, and he was a columnist for Y Goleuad from 1930 onwards under the pseudonym ' Sylwedydd '; Sylwadau Sylwedydd, a selection of articles from this column was published in 1949. He also published Cofiant a gweithiau David Roberts y Rhiw (1908); Rolant y teiliwr ac ysgrifau eraill (1920); Y Cyfundeb a'i neges: the Connexion and its message, in English and Welsh (1935). He edited volumes of the sermons of John Williams, Brynsiencyn (1922 and 1923), and Thomas Charles Williams (1928 and 1929). He also published a textbook on the journeys of St. Paul (1902), and a commentary on the Gospel according to St. Luke (1927 and 1928). As general editor for the Presbyterian Bookroom, Caernarfon, he guided for many years the passage of numerous works by other authors through the press. In 1950 he received an honorary D.D. degree of the University of Wales. A selection of his sermons (edited by William Morris) was published posthumously in 1957.
Author
- Reverend Gomer Morgan Roberts, (1904 - 1993)
- Who's who in Wales, (1921), 350
- Who's who in the Free Churches? (1951), 350
- Y Drysorfa, 1920, 121-3; 1926, 1-3; 1949, 59-63
- Y Goleuad, 11 March 1953
- Blwyddlyfr y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, 1954, 228-9
Sources
Published date: 2001
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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