John Davies (''John Davies of Nercwys''; 26 May 1799 – 5 March 1879) was a Welsh

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

minister, preacher and writer. He was born at Llanerch, in the parish of

Llanarmon-yn-Iâl Llanarmon-yn-Iâl is a village, and local government community, in Denbighshire, Wales, lying in limestone country in the valley of the River Alyn. The community is part of an electoral ward called Llanarmon-yn-Iâl/Llandegla. The population o ...

. His parents were Joseph and Eleanor Davies; a photograph of Eleanor (née Parry) is held by the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

. He was baptised in the parish church on 31 May 1799, but the family moved to Rhos Ithel,

Nercwys Nercwys is a rural village and community in Flintshire, Wales, which is surrounded by open countryside. The community population taken at the 2011 census was 585. The older, Anglicised spelling of Nerquis can sometimes be found. It has a small ...

, in about 1800, and later to

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungus, fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of Spore#Fungi, spores containing Secondary metabolite#Fungal secondary metabolites, fungal seco ...

; he grew up in the Mold area. At the age of 16, in 1815, he is known to have become a member of Mold Methodist Society. A few years later he began preaching, and in 1834 he was ordained. Though he was an itinerant preacher, his home remained in the Nercwys area of

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

; hence the place name was used as an additional epithet to differentiate him from others named John Davies. His writings include a commentary on the

Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs ( he, מִשְלֵי, , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible and a book of the Christian Old Testament. When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different ...

(1869). In 1875, he received a testimonial from the chapel where he officiated, "in acknowledgement of his personal worth and abilities". At the age of 76, he had been preaching for 53 years and was the oldest-but-one minister still officiating in North Wales. It was calculated that he had preached 18,779 times in the course of his career. The total sum collected was £100. Davies died in March 1879. His portrait hangs in Flintshire Record Office together with that of the novelist

Daniel Owen Daniel Owen (20 October 1836 – 22 October 1895) was a Welsh novelist. He is generally regarded as the foremost Welsh-language novelist of the 19th century, and as the first significant novelist to write in Welsh. Early life Daniel Owen was bor ...

, who was christened by him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, John 1799 births 1879 deaths 19th-century Welsh writers 19th-century Welsh Methodist ministers Welsh Calvinist and Reformed Christians