WILLIAMS
,
EVAN
(
1719
-
1748
),
Congregational minister and revivalist
;
b.
6 Jan. 1719
at
Abercrave
,
Brecknock
— a brother to
William
Evans
(
1716
-
1770
) (q.v.)
,
Cwmllynfell
. He came from a religious family. It is probable that he was at
Joseph
Simmons
's school at
Swansea
or
Neath
. In the bitter controversy between
Calvinism
and
Arminianism
at
Cwmllynfell
he joined the party of
Howel
Harris
and
Daniel
Rowland
. He was a true revivalist both by nature and by conviction. In
1742
he returned to
Cwmllynfell
. An
Evan
Williams
,
Carmarthen Presbyterian Academy
, received a grant from the
Congregational Fund
in
1743
. Perhaps he entered the Academy that year but travelled much throughout the country to
preach
between 1743 and 1745
. The epic of his career was his strange journey to
Caernarvonshire
, where he was cruelly persecuted. He is named as ‘
minister
’ of
Cwmllynfell
in the licence of
1744
. He went to
Carmarthen Academy
in
1745
and received a grant of two pounds from the
Congregational Board
on
5 October 1747
. He d.
20 Aug. 1748
after a long illness following upon his
Caernarvonshire
journey.
Edmund
Jones
,
Pontypool
, said that he was unequalled as a
preacher
, a devoted Scripture student, and that, had he lived he would have been famous throughout
Wales
as a
preacher
.
Bibliography:
-
Robert Jones (Rhoslan)
,
Drych yr
AmseroeddY Llenor
(Rhoslan) , 1820; another ed. [1841]; 's ed. in , xv–xvi, 1898.
There is now a new edition ed.
(University of Wales Press, 1958)
;
-
Hanes Eglwys Cwmllynfell
, , and
, 1935
, 11-13;
-
Llawlyfr Undeb Ystradgynlais
,
1950
;
-
A Sermon…occasioned by the Death of Mr. Evan
Williams…to which is added some Account of his Life and
Death
, 1750
;
-
Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru
, ii, 146; iii, 44;
-
National Library of Wales Manuscript
10330.
Author:
Rev. John Dyfnallt Owen, M.A., (1873-1956), Aberystwyth
