EVANS
,
DAVID
(
1778
-
1866
),
Baptist minister
, known as ‘
Dafydd
Evans
,
Ffynnonhenry
,’
but not to be confused with another
David
Evans
, who was
minister
at
Ffynnonhenry
(and at
Priory Street
,
Carmarthen
) from
1765 to 1793
.
Dafydd
Evans
was b. at
Nant-y-fen
,
Conwil Elvet
, son of
Stephen
and
Jane
Evans
, and was at school at
Conwil
under
Arthur
Evans
(q.v.)
. He began
preaching
c.
1808
, and in
Easter week 1811
was ordained at
Ffynnonhenry
as
co-pastor
. In
1846
, rather than submit to a legal verdict which he obstinately maintained to have done him an injustice, he preferred to spend
two-and-a-half years in
Carmarthen gaol
. He d.
5 March 1866
; according to his tombstone he was then 88 years old. These are all the facts and dates of his career which are recorded. But his place in the memory of his people depends upon things that cannot well be exemplified here: his originality, his wit — and indeed, his oddities. These are recorded in the book about him by
Benjamin
Thomas
(
Myfyr Emlyn
,
1836
-
1893
, q.v.)
, first published in
1870
but reprinted time after time and sold by the thousand.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
