EVANS, JOHN (1723 - 1817), 'of Bala', Calvinistic Methodist exhorter
Date of birth: 1723
Date of death: 1817
Spouse: Margaret Evans (née Roberts)
Gender: Male
Occupation: Calvinistic Methodist exhorter
Area of activity: Religion
Author: Robert Thomas Jenkins
Born at Glan'rafon, Wrexham, 30 October 1723; his parents removed in 1727 to Adwy'r Clawdd - it was John Evans who gave the land on which Adwy chapel, the first Methodist chapel in North Wales, was built, 1750-3. For a while he was a weaver, then a miner in the Minera lead-mines, but in 1742 he went to Bala and resumed the craft of weaving; later he was a book-binder, and later on in life (in the trust deed of Adwy chapel in 1804) is described as a ' tallow-chandler.'
In 1744 he married Margaret, daughter of the poet Morris Roberts (died 1723?), of Llanuwch-llyn; their daughter married William Edwards (1773 - 1853), the hymn-writer. In 1745, Evans was admitted into the newly formed Methodist society at Bala, and soon began to itinerate in the surrounding country, but it was not till 1765 that he was officially given the status of exhorter. He acquired great repute as one of the most reliable leaders of North Wales Methodism; his ready wit was matched by acute observation and wise judgement. The scheme for paying for chapels by small regular contributions was of his devising. When Thomas Charles settled at Bala, John Evans became his right-hand man. By the end of the century he had become an incorporation of North Wales Methodist tradition, and it was appropriate that his reminiscences should be published by Charles in the Drysorfa, 1799, 1809-13 (separately reprinted, Machynlleth, 1885). Not less appropriate was it that John Evans, as 'the oldest and most respected man in the Connexion,' should open the first Calvinistic Methodist ordination service in North Wales, 19 June 1811, at Bala. He died 12 August 1817, and was buried at Llanycil.
It was John Evans who in 1759 translated John Wesley's Primitive Physick, and in 1761 his Rules of the United Societies, but the expenses of publication seem to have been borne by Thomas Foulkes.
Author
- Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)
- Robert Jones (Rhoslan), Drych yr Amseroedd (Trefriw 1820)
- Y Geiniogwerth, 1849
- W. Williams, Methodistiaeth Dwyrain Meirionydd (1902)
- D. E. Jenkins, Life of Thomas Charles (Denbigh 1908), consult index
- H. Llew Williams, Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd yn Adwy'r Clawdd (1947)
- Gildas Tibbott, Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, 1961, 26-35, 53-60
- Goronwy Prys Owen, Atgofion John Evans y Bala (1997)
- and the usual books on early Welsh Methodist history
Sources
- J. Morgan Jones, W. Morgan, Y Tadau Methodistaidd (1895-1897) ii, pp.20-33
Further Reading
- Wikidata: Q20733414
Additional Links
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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