John Jones

John Jones, Talysarn (1 March 1796 – 16 August 1857), was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister, regarded as one of the greatest preachers in the history of Wales. Because the name "John Jones" was one of the most common in Wales at the time, he is usually differentiated by others of the same name by the use of the suffix "Talysarn", denoting the village where he lived.

Life Memorial at Tan-y-castell to John Jones and his brothers David (1805–1868), William (1801–1885) and Richard (1799–1850), "three ministers and one elder" John Jones was born in a house called Tan-y-castell, in Dolwyddelan, and brought up in a farming family but which also had many connections with Nonconformist religion. He was a monoglot Welsh speaker, and the only formal education he received was at the Sabbath school.

As a young man around 1820 he was engaged as a labourer building Thomas Telford's road from London to Holyhead (now known as the A5), and was heard by his fellow workers preaching on religious matters as he walked to work. In 1822 he moved to Talysarn to find work in the quarry, but was increasingly devoting himself to preaching. He was ordained in 1829, and would become widely known by the name "John Jones, Talysarn", after his adopted home village.

He married Frances (Fanny) Edwards

Genealogy John Jones was a member of a large family which has gone to some trouble, before and since, to record its genealogy. Both his father and mother were descended from the poet Angharad James.