HOWELLS, MORGAN (1794-1852), Calvinistic Methodist minister;
b. at the Breach, S. Nicholas, Glam., in May 1794, son of Morgan and Elizabeth Howells, who were members of the Tre-hyl Methodist society and communicated in Llanddiddan Fach church, where Howell Howells (q.v.), the Methodist curate, officiated. He received a smattering of education in the local schools but his father d. in 1807 and he had to go to Newport, Mon., to learn to be a carpenter. The vital importance of religion was brought home to him under the ministry of John Rees, minister of Gobaith (Hope) chapel, and he joined that church. He began to preach in 1815 and was ordained at the Llangeitho association, 1824. He was m. twice: (1) to Mary Lewis, sister of Richard Lewis (‘Dic Penderyn,’ q.v.), 1827 and (2) to Ann Morgan of Ebbw Vale, 1843. At the time of his second marriage he moved to Tredegar where he d. 21 March 1852. In the course of his short life he became the chief ornament of Calvinistic Methodism in Monmouthshire and was celebrated throughout Wales as a preacher. The liveliness of his imagination, the ardour of his emotions, and the warmth of his genius inevitably kindled the fervour of his congregations. In 1829 he built a chapel at Newport, and at one time the debt incurred on it nearly overwhelmed him, but he collected money over the whole country to pay for it. In 1903 a new chapel was built at Newport to his memory. In 1858, Gweithiau Morgan Howells … pregethau a thraethodau, was published under the editorship of Edward Matthews (q.v.).
Bibliography:
- E. Morgan, Boanerges; sef Hanes Bywyd M. H., 1853;
- D. H. Williams, The Rev. Morgan Howell, 1908;
- Abraham Morris, The Story of Ebenezer, Newport, 1916;
- Cylch. Cymd. Hanes M.C., xvi, 49-58;
- Drys., 1919, 418-19;
- Y Lladmerydd, 1910, 297;
- I. ap Nicholas, Dic Penderyn, 14, 54, 58.
Author:
Rev. Gomer Morgan Roberts, M.A., (1904-93), Pont-rhyd-y-fen / St Dogmael's / Llandybïe
