Hi Mike,
My g-g-g grandfather was John Meredith of the Hendy, Bwlch-y-Sarnau in Abbeycwmhir. His
son, John Meredith b 1807, married Mary Powell b 1825, daughter of Abraham Powell, farmer,
of ‘Wain’ Abbeycwmhir, on 6 March 1846.
In relation to the history of Baptists in the area, have you seen a copy of the book
called ‘The Forgotten Composer Edward Meredith Price Penlan A Brief History of the Pugh’s
of Radnorshire 1712 to the Fifties Farming with the Sims Family 1880-1950’ by Margaret Ivy
Sims Jones? It contains information on the life of Margaret’s g-g grandfather, Stephen
Pugh, who founded the Baptist chapel at Bwlch-y-Sarnau in 1829. It records that prior to
the chapel being built he held congregations in local farmhouses including the Hendy and
carried out baptisms in the stream that runs through the Hendy. It also mentions that
‘Vanasour Powell’ (sic), a militant puritan preacher, was arrested for preaching at
Brondrefawr (next farm up the cwm from Waun) in 1650. It says that he fled leaving his
pulpit behind and that that pulpit is now in the chapel at Bwlch-y-Sarnau.
Regards
Dave in Oz
From: Mike Powell via
Sent: Friday, September 26, 2014 2:27 AM
To: powys(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [POWYS] Baptists in Wales
I’ve been digging into my Powell ancestry, much as did Margaret Harvey (and Dorrie Carver
before her). Generally located in the parishes of Llandinam, Abbey-cwmhir and St Harmon. I
now know that I’m going to have to learn a lot more about the Baptists in these parts.
Fotunately, I’ve found a good resource - the Internet Archive. This has downloadable PDF
files of many old texts, many of which are searchable. For example, I found “History of
the Welsh Baptists” by J. Davis 1835, “A History of the Baptist Association in Wales” by
Joshua Thomas 1795 and “Vavasor Powell’s Impartial Triall” by Evans and Griffith, 1654.
They also have texts in Welsh. If you’re interested, try this link:
https://archive.org/search.php?query=welsh%20baptists%20AND%20mediatype%3...
Naturally, I’d like to hear from anyone else who’s also working in this area. My
g-g-grandfather was Abraham Powell, born 1800, farming at the Waun Cwm Nant-y-stabl just
north of Bwlch-y-Sarnau.
Mike Powell
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