OWEN, DAVID SAMUEL (1887-1959), minister (Presb.);
b. 12 Mar. 1887 at Ruthin, Denbs., son of Samuel and Harriet Owen. He was educated in the elementary schools at Ruthin and Abergele; Abergele county school; University College, Bangor (where he graduated B.A.); and Aberystwyth Theological College. He began to preach in 1905 in Bethlehem chapel, Colwyn Bay; he was ord. in 1913, and served as minister of Siloh, Llanelli (1913-15) before receiving a call to Jewin church, London, where he had a successful career and where he remained for the rest of his life. To his deep distress the beautiful chapel of Jewin was destroyed by bombs during World War II, and many of his church members returned to Wales; nevertheless, he continued to labour diligently among those who remained, though he did not live to see a new place of worship built on the site of the old. In 1913 he m. Gracy Jones, Glan Conwy and they had two sons and three daughters. He d. 26 Mar. 1959, and was buried in Bron-y-nant cemetery, Colwyn Bay.
A powerful and popular preacher, there was great demand for his services in Wales, where he served as Moderator of the North Wales Association (1954). From an early age he excelled as an elocutionist at eisteddfodau, and he adjudicated recitation competitions regularly for many years at the National Eisteddfod.
Bibliography:
- Www (1921), 347;
- Y Goleuad, 1, 8 and 22 Apr. 1959;
- Drys., Sept. 1959;
- Blwyddiadur MC, 1960, 270-1;
- G. M. Roberts, Y ddinas gadarn (1974), chapters 9-10;
- personal acquaintance.
Author:
Rev. Gomer Morgan Roberts, M.A., (1904-93), Pont-rhyd-y-fen / St Dogmael's / Llandybïe
