THOMAS, DAVID (?- 1780?), minister (Congl.) at Llanedi, Carmarthenshire

The only extant source of knowledge about him is in Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, iii, 503-4, where it is said that he hailed from Cilgwyn, Cardiganshire, that he lived at Ffos-yr-efail, Llandeilo Fach (Llandeilo Tal-y-bont), Glamorganshire, was prosperous, and that he was ordained minister of Llanedi c. 1739. Although his name is not (for some reason) on W. D. Jeremy 's list (copy in NLW MS 362A ), a few crumbs of information about him can be gathered from other manuscripts. It is evident from the scornful references made by Edmund Jones diary 1773 that he associated with Arians; it is also suggested that he was not a teetotaller. Edmund Jones's words, 'old David Thomas ', support the fact that Evan Davies was ordained there (3 August 1775) - as co-pastor, according to Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru - in Thomas's presence; however, in the only church book extant for Llanedi (at Somerset House; commencing with 1745), Davies is called 'minister', and it was he who had custody of the meetinghouse lease. Under 28 March 1778 the church book records that 'the major part of the congregation' undertook to pay £5 annually for life to the Rev. David Thomas, our old Pastor ', but accompanying this is a list of patrons of the church with £100 given by the Rev. Mr. David Thomas, Pastor of this Congregation' - would this be a loan, at an annual interest to be remitted on Thomas's death? Among the papers of Thomas Morgan 'Henllan' is a list (NLW MS 5453C ) of ministers in Wales who died after 1760. The last but one is 'Mr. David Thomas of Llanedy'; no date is given, as it happens, but the list is chronological, and Thomas's name lies between 1779 and 1781.

Author

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

Published date: 2001

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