MEREDITH
,
LEWIS
(
Lewys Glyn Dyfi
;
1826
-
1891
),
preacher and writer
;
b.
22 March 1826
at
Ffactri'r Ffridd
, near
Machynlleth
. He was educated in the
Sunday school
and at day schools, first of all at
Machynlleth
and later, when the family moved to
Cwmllinau
, at
Cemaes
. He was interested in literature from an early age and had a hand in
founding a literary society
at
Machynlleth
(
c. 1854
) when he was working in the office of
Adam
Evans
, the
printer
. He began to
preach
to the
Wesleyans
in
1849
but failed to get accepted for the ministry (
1855
) because of the uncertainty of his health. After being in charge of the
Welsh Wesleyans
at
Witton Park
,
Durham
(
1855-6
), he emigrated to the
U.S.A
where, after a year at a seminary, he was accepted as a
minister
of the
Methodist Episcopal Church
(
1859
). Although the churches to which he ministered were
English
-speaking, he continued to take an interest in
Welsh
life; he wrote to the
Eurgrawn
and the
Drych
, preached to the
Welsh
when he got the opportunity, and had charge of the
Welsh Wesleyan church
at
Chicago
. In
1863
he visited
Wales
to plead the cause of the North in the
American Civil War
. In addition to his contributions to the periodicals already mentioned and to the
Traethodydd
, he published a book of verse,
Blodau Glyn Dyfi
,
1852
. In
1865
he m.
Nillie E.
Phelps
, the daughter of a prominent
Methodist Episcopal minister
. He d.
29 Sept. 1891
, and was buried in
Oak Park
,
Chicago
.
He had a brother,
RICHARD
MEREDITH
(
1826
-
1856
), who wrote articles for the
Traethodydd
and
Winllan
, sometimes under his own name and sometimes under the pen-name
Caradog
. He was for a short time a
Wesleyan lay preacher
. He was a sickly, lame man, who d. at
Cwmllinau
Bibliography:
-
There is a full memoir of Lewis Meredith in
Yr Eurgrawn Wesleyaidd
, Dolgellau
,
1894
,
passim
;
-
see also
Y Geninen
(Gŵyl Dewi),
1903
, 54;
-
R. Williams
,
Montgomeryshire Worthies
, second ed.,
1894
;
-
[
Notable Welshmen (1700–1900)
,
1908
].
Author:
Rev. Griffith Thomas Roberts, M.A., (1887-1977), Tregarth, Bangor /
Talsarnau
