OWEN
,
RICHARD
(
1839
-
1887
),
revivalist, Calvinistic Methodist minister
;
b. in
1839
, son of
John
and
Mary
Owen
of
Ystum Werddon
,
Llangristiolus
,
Anglesey
.
Richard
's education was spasmodic for his father d. when he was 11 years of age and his brother d. a year later. When he made known his desire to enter the ministry the authorities were dubious because it was felt that he would need a lot of training. As he grew up the little chapel of
Cana
, tucked away in a corner of the district, asked for his help and he came to feel the attraction of that small and homely church.
Dafydd Morgan's revival
(see
Morgan,
David
,
1814
-
1883
), as it was called, impelled him to offer himself officially as a candidate for the ministry. The authorities saw fit to give him a field of seven churches in which he might
preach
, and he was given £10 for a course of education at the
British School
,
Llangefni
. In
1863
he went to
Bala C.M. College
, but it was very difficult, if not impossible, for one who was already a regular peripatetic
evangelist
to make much progress as a student. When the good people of
Ffestiniog
arranged for the
principal
and the simple student to
preach
in the same meeting,
Dr.
Lewis
Edwards
banished from his mind all adverse criticism of
Richard
Owen
. In
1867
he m.
Ellen
, sister of the
Rev.
Robert
Evans
, the
missionary
. They lived at
Rhos-cefn-hir
, near
Pentraeth
, for four years — the wife
keeping a shop
while he went out
preaching
. He then went to
London
for a time and, on his return in
1873
, was ordained. After he had settled at
Pen-y-sychnant
,
Penmaenmawr
, his powers developed and his influence spread throughout
Wales
. A simpler and more unassuming man never entered the pulpit. He had neither eloquence nor liveliness of gesture, and yet when he stood face to face with his congregation, and the inspiration of the moment was upon him, the lucidity of his thoughts and the vividness of his descriptions had an overwhelming effect. He lived at
Denbigh
for a short time, and later at
Aberystwyth
. He d. at
Tŷ Croes
,
Pentraeth
,
Anglesey
,
16 Feb. 1887
.
Bibliography:
-
W. Pritchard
,
Cofiant a Phregethau y Parch. Richard Owen,
y ‘Diwygiwr‘
, Amlwch, 1889
,
1889
;
-
Eminent Welshmen
, 1908
;
Y Traethodydd
,
1888
, 296-310.
Author:
Rev. Richard Thomas, B.A. (1872-1950), Caernarfon
