Christopher Mends
Christopher Mends (22 February 1724 or 1725 – 5 April 1799) was a Methodist exhorter and later an independent minister.[1]
Biography[edit]
Mends' birth is of uncertain origin: he was born either at the Cotts near Hasguard, Pembrokeshire,[1] or at Haverfordwest,[2] on 22 February 1724 or 1725, one of nine children[1] of a cloth merchant.[1][2]
By 1741, Mends worked as a fuller with his brother, William, at Laugharne.[1] After hearing George Whitefield's preachings, the brothers became exhorters.[1][2] In January 1745, Mends was appointed to exhort in East Walton and Studder.[2] Mends studied at Carmarthen Academy under independent minister Evan Davies for some of his training.[1][2]
By September 1748,[2] the brothers had established a meeting house in Laugharne,[1][2] which was registered as a dissenting meeting house by January 1750. Mends was ordained as a Congregationalist in Brinkworth, Wiltshire.[2] In 1761, he moved to Plymouth, where he died on 5 April 1799.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Jenkins, Robert Thomas (1942). "MENDS, CHRISTOPHER (1724? - 1799). Methodist exhorter, afterwards Independent minister". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h White, Eryn M. (15 June 2020). The Welsh Methodist Society: The Early Societies in South-west Wales 1737-1750. University of Wales Press. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-1-78683-581-9.