SIMMONS
or
SIMONS
,
JOSEPH
(
1694?
-
1774
),
Independent minister, and schoolmaster
;
b.
c.
1694
at
Foxhall
,
Llansamlet, Glam.
, and educated at
Carmarthen Academy
under
Perrott
(q.v.)
. In
1724
he was appointed
assistant-pastor
to
Roger
Howell
at
Cwmllynfell
and
Gellionnen
. He is found
keeping school
at
Neath
in
1730
, and
Lewis
Rees
(q.v.)
was a pupil of his there. In
Aug. 1738
we find
Howel
Harris
staying a night with ‘
Jos.
Symons
, near the Abbey at
Neath
.’
Simmons
is said to have taken over
Rees
Price
's academy at
Tyn-ton
(see under
Price
,
Richard
) when
Price
d. in
1739
— but in
1741
at the latest he
had a school
at
Swansea
.
Simmons
was a
Calvinist
; he is named by
Edmund
Jones
(q.v.)
in
1741
(
Trevecka letter 362
) as one of the
Independent ministers
who supported the
Methodist revival
; and
Edmund
Jones
urged
Thomas
Morgan
(
1720
-
1799
) (q.v.)
to go to the school kept by ‘
Mr.
Seimons
at
Swanzey
’ rather than to
Samuel
Jones
(
fl.
1715-64
) (q.v.)
at
Pen-twyn
,
whose orthodoxy was dubious.
Simmons
sent his own son to
Abergavenny Calvinistic Academy
, and
Edmund
Jones
was present at the young man's ordination; but the
‘
Old Prophet
’
was deeply vexed (diary of
1789
) when
Joseph
Simmons
took part in the ordination of the ‘heretical’
Edward
Evan(s)
(q.v.)
at
Aberdare.
In
1750
,
Simmons
removed his dwelling from
Hendreforgan
to
Llansamlet
, the better to
oversee the Independent cause
at
Neath
(meeting at that time in
Chwarelau-bach chapel
) — he had charge also of the cause at
Skewen
. In
1772
,
Maes-yr-haf chapel
at
Neath
was built, and at its opening,
Simmons
's son
Noah
(who had been at
Abergavenny Academy
,
1768-72
) was ordained as his assistant.
Joseph
Simmons
d. suddenly, at
Swansea
,
12 May 1774
.
Noah
Simmons
succeeded him, and remained at
Maes-yr-haf
till
1794
, when disagreement with some of his congregation drove him to emigrate to
U.S.A.
; the date of his death is not known.
Bibliography:
-
J. Dyfnallt Owen
in
Hanes Eglwys Cwmllynfell
, , and
, 1935
, 14-16;
-
Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru
, ii, 97-8, 104;
- and the references in the article.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
