OWEN
,
JOHN
(
1808
-
1876
), known as ‘
John Owen of Tyn-llwyn
’,
Calvinistic Methodist minister, and writer on agriculture
b.
1 Aug. 1808
at
Gwindy
,
Llecheiddior
,
Eifionydd
, son of
William
Owen
and his wife
Margaret
, who was a niece of
Robert
Jones
(
1745
-
1829
) (q.v.)
of
Rhos-lan
. He was an early and a wide reader, and as a youth wrote in
Seren Gomer
on behalf of
Catholic Emancipation
. He went to several schools, including that kept by
Evan
Richardson
(q.v.)
and a school at
Chester
where
Glan Alun
(
Thomas
Jones
,
1811
-
1866
, q.v.)
was his schoolfellow. At home, he turned in the literary circle of
Eifionydd
, which included such men as
Dewi Wyn
,
Robert ap Gwilym Ddu
, and
Ellis
Owen
(qq.v.). He began
preaching
in
1836
, married, and went to
Bala C.M. College
, but had to leave on the death of his father
. He was ordained in
1842
, but never undertook a pastoral charge, for he held that such an institution had no place in Methodism. In
1853
he removed from
Gwindy
to the large (and run-down) farm of
Tyn-llwyn
,
Pentir
, near
Bangor
. But his landlord was a
Tory
, and turned
John
Owen
out (
1869
) for voting for
Love
Jones Parry
of
Madryn
in the
1868
election. Failing to get a suitable farm, he took to
banking
at
Portmadoc
. He did not succeed as a
banker
, so he resumed
farming
, at
Caenewydd
in
Llangybi
. But in
1873
he was placed in the large and good farm of
Penyberth
on the
Madryn estate
. There he d.,
17 May 1876
; he was buried in the
Tai-duon burial-ground
,
Pant-glas
,
Eifionydd
.
Owen
was esteemed a good
preacher
, though ‘dry’ and doctrinal. But he is described as a man with too many irons in the fire. As the story of
1868-9
shows, he was a zealous
Liberal
of the old individualistic kind; and in his native county his name has become a symbol of the emergence of that
Liberalism
. But possibly his
pioneer work in scientific farming
is his greater claim to remembrance. He devoted himself to the
improvement of the soil
and to
more careful stock-breeding
. He enclosed and built, ‘
drained scores of acres and improved scores more
’ at
Tyn-llwyn
, all at his own cost — and had to abandon the profits to his landlord. He paid great attention to
improving Welsh Black
cattle
, and here again, after he had left
Tyn-llwyn
, stock-raisers all over
Wales
profited more than he did by his improvements. He wrote on agriculture in the
Traethodydd
, and in
1860
published
Detholiad, Magwraeth, a Rheolaeth y Da Byw mwyaf priodol i Dywysogaeth Cymru
. He is described as a tall, long-striding man, serious and taciturn.
Bibliography:
-
Y Gwyddoniadur Cymreig
, 1889-96
2nd. edn,. viii., 122 P-S;
-
J. Jones (‘Myrddin Fardd’)
,
Enwogion Sir Gaernarfon
, 1922
;
-
W. Hobley
,
Hanes Methodistiaeth Arfon
, 1910–24,
six volumes
, v. 179-82.
His only son,
JOHN
OWEN
(
1849
-
1917
) was b. at
Gwindy
in
July 1849
, and d. at
Criccieth
15 April 1917
. From
Garth school
at
Bangor
and the
Liverpool Institute
, he went to
Bala C.M. College
in
1867
, began
preaching
, and went up to
Edinburgh
, where he graduated. On
30 March 1875
he was inducted as
pastor
at
Criccieth
, and remained there till his death, though his pastorate was rather stormy. He, too, wrote a good deal — e.g. he co-operated with
Alaw Ddu
(
W. T.
Rees
, q.v.)
in a biography of
Ieuan Gwyllt
(q.v.)
,
1880
. But he also inherited his father's
interest in scientific farming
, having indeed
worked much on his father's farm
— ‘at bottom,’ it was said of him, ‘he was a
farmer
.’ He went to
Canada
to seek openings for
Welsh
emigrants. From
1892 till 1896
he was on the
teaching staff in agriculture
at
University College
,
Bangor
, and he
lectured to farmers
in the
North-west Wales
counties.
Bibliography:
-
Blwyddiadur y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd
,
1918
;
-
articles by
John Puleston Jones
in
Y Goleuad
,
27 April and 4 May 1917
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
