ABEL, JOHN (1770-1819), Welsh Independent minister;
b. in Llanybri, Carms., 1770, s. of William Abel, one of the founders of Capel Newydd in that village. It is said that he attended the Carmarthen Academy but this establishment was in Swansea at that time. In 1794 he succeeded David Davies (d. 1807, D.W.B., 113) as minister of the small congregation at Capel Sul, Kidwelly and he also kept a school. John Abel was not orthodox, according to the Unitarian Wright, who visited Wales in 1816, and ‘he was considered to be an Arian’ who lent his chapel willingly to Wright. He d. on June 25th 1819.
Bibliography:
- H.E.A.C., iii, 336, 471;
- O.C.C., 29, 246;
- M.R., 1816;
- Trans. Cymm., 1928-29, 56.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D., F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor.
