HARRIS
,
JOSEPH
(
Gomer
,
1773
-
1825
),
Baptist minister, and man of letters
;
b. the son of a
farm bailiff
at
Llantydewi
,
Wolfs Castle, Pembs.
, and baptized at
Llangloffan
about 1792/3
. Fired by the revival at
Puncheston
in
1795
, he began to
preach
and in
1796
published
Casgliad o Hymnau
, a supplement to a hymnbook he had already published in
1793
. He m.
Martha
Symons
of
Little Newcastle
and in
1801
came to
Back Street chapel
after which he went for four months to
Bristol Academy
.
Back Street
was troubled by
Arminianism
in
1800
, and
Unitarianism
was causing dissension in the
Old Meeting House
; to combat this he published
Bwyall
Grist yng Nghoed Anghrist
in
1804
. His
Traethawd ar Briodol Dduwdod ein Harglwydd Iesu Grist
,
1816-17
, left its mark on the theological opinions of many people, winning the approval of
Trinitarians
of almost every denomination. He kept alive the tradition of the
revivalist preachers
and
worked zealously for the Welsh language and for congregational singing
. In
1821
he published
Casgliad o Hymnau
, which included many of his own hymns; it was sold in his own bookshop. He also
kept a day-school
.
He may be regarded as the
father of the Welsh newspaper
, for his
Seren Gomer
,
1814-15
, was the first all-Welsh weekly. Although this undertaking caused him serious losses and was a failure, as were
Greal y Bedyddwyr
,
1817
, and the
Drysorfa Efengylaidd
,
1806
, which he sought to run in conjunction with
Titus
Lewis
(
1773
-
1811
) (q.v.)
, his fortnightly
Seren Gomer
,
1818
, was a success. He also published
Yr Anghyffelyb Broffeswr
(a translation),
1802
;
Y Beibl Dwy-ieithawg
;
Gill
's
Commentary on the New Testament
, translated into
Welsh
by himself,
Titus
Lewis
, and
Christmas
Evans
; and
Cofiant Ieuan Ddu
, a memoir of his son,
J. Ryland
Harris
(q.v.)
. He d.
10 Aug. 1825
shortly after his fifty-second birthday.
Bibliography:
-
D. Rhys Stephen
,
Cofiant Joseph Harris
(Gomer);
-
Cambrian Bibliography
, Llanidloes, 1869
;
Trafodion Cymdeithas Hanes Bedyddwyr
Cymru
,
1930
.
Author:
Rev. William Joseph Rhys, (1880-1967), Gelli, Rhondda / Treherbert
