HUGHES, HUGH (Tegai; 1805 - 1864), Independent minister and man of letters

Name: Hugh Hughes
Pseudonym: Tegai
Date of birth: 1805
Date of death: 1864
Parent: Barbara Hughes
Parent: Thomas Hughes
Gender: Male
Occupation: Independent minister and man of letters
Area of activity: Literature and Writing; Religion
Author: David Tecwyn Evans

Born at Llandygái, Caernarfonshire, 1805, the son of Thomas and Barbara Hughes, two Anglesey people who were ardent Independents. When the Cororion Independent chapel at Tre-garth, Llandygái, was closed down, he joined the Wesleyans at Shiloh, Tre-garth, and became a lay preacher. He never attended a day school and the only education he received was at the Cororion and Shiloh Sunday schools. He was only a boy when he went to work at the Bethesda slate quarries, where he became a first-rate workman. He read hard and studied unremittingly and his membership of the Bethesda Cymreigyddion Society taught him a great deal. Although he was in full sympathy with the Wesleyan doctrines he did not approve of their system of church government and he, therefore, rejoined the Independents. He accepted a call to be minister of Rhos-lan and later officiated as a minister at Manchester and at Chwilog. At the end of his term at Chwilog he set up his own printing press at Pwllheli where a penny newspaper, Yr Arweinydd, and several of his literary works were printed and published. In 1859, he became minister of Bethel, Aberdare [for which see under William Jones, 1814? - 1895 ] where he spent the rest of his days. His books include: Gramadeg Cymraeg, sef Ieithiadur Athronyddol ; Bwrdd y Bardd; Telyn y Saint; Ioan yn Ynys Patmos (awdl); Gramadeg Barddoniaeth; Agoriad Gwybodaeth (a book on composition and public speaking); Adolygiad ar Draethawd Eliseus Cole ar Benarglwyddiaeth; essays on Llywodraeth Foesol; Annibyniaeth; Olyniaeth Apostolaidd; Moses a Colenso; Cydwybod; Y Bedydd Cristionogol; and Dawn ar Bob Dyn. Tegai worked unceasingly as a preacher, author, and poet and may be justly regarded as a very notable example of a poor country boy who, lacking the advantages of birth and education, taught himself and acquired an honoured position among his contemporaries; Dr. Lewis Edwards praised his Gramadeg and 'J.R.' of Llanbryn-mair and Gwilym Hiraethog paid tributes to the excellence of his prose and verse. He died at Aberdare, 8 December 1864, and was buried there.