WILLIAMS
,
MATHEW
[
1732
-
1819
],
landsurveyor, author, and almanack-maker[?]
.
It is known that he lived at
Llangadock
in
1774
and at
Rhos-maen
, near
Llandeilo
, in
1788
. He published (
a
)
Y Mesurwr Cyffredinol
(
Carmarthen
,
1775
; another ed. in
1785
); (
b
)
Speculum Terrarum et Caelorum: neu Ddrych y Ddaear a'r Ffurfafen …
(
Carmarthen
,
1784
; other eds. in
1804
and
1826
); (
c
)
Hanes Holl Grefyddau'r Byd, yn enwedig y Grefydd Grist'nogol
(
Carmarthen
,
1799
); (
d
) a series of (
Welsh
) almanacks —
Britannus Merlinus Liberatus
— from
1777 until at least 1814
; and (
e
)
De Ultimo Judicio: neu Gan
am y Farn Ddiweddaf … Wedi ei gyfansoddi a'i gydmaru a gwaith Saesonaeg B[enjamin] Francis
(
Carmarthen
,
1794?
). It is possible that he was the
translator
of
Traethawd ynghylch Caersalem Newydd o waith E. Swedenborg
(
Carmarthen
,
1815
; another ed. in
1885
). In a diary of
David
Jones
,
Wallington
— it is now in the
Cardiff Public Library
— is a reference under
Aug. 1790
to the death of ‘
Mathew
Williams
,
author of a Welsh Almanack
, this 14 years past, printed yearly in
Carmarthen
. He was from them parts by birth, by trade a
weaver
, by profession a
dissenter
, 55 years of age
’; note, however, that our
Mathew
Williams
describes himself as ‘
land surveyor
’ in some of his works. [It is possible that there has been confusion between two men of this name. A
Mathew
Williams
,
land-surveyor
, made his will
30 May 1819
, and was buried at
Llandeilo-fawr
on
30 Sept. 1819
, aged 87; the will was proved
24 March 1820
(parish and probate records in
N.L.W.
).]
Sources:
-
Eminent Welshmen: a short biographical dictionary of Welshmen ... from the earliest times to the present
(1908)
;
-
Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid
Calfinaidd
,
1949
, 48;
-
John Davies
,
Rhestr o lyfrau argraffedig yng
Nghaerfyrddin gan John Ross rhwng y blynyddoedd 1763 a
1807
(Carmarthen, 1916)
,
1916
;
-
Notable Welshmen (1700–1900)
(1908)
Author:
Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952),
Aberystwyth
