A minister’s son who wrote poetry at thirteen
John Sylvanus Davis was born on 7 June 1822 in Carmarthen, the son of James Sylvanus, a non-conformist minister, and Anne Davis. Although John was baptized into the Congregational Church, his father, searching for something more, eventually started his own congregation.
John received a good education for the period and developed a love for literature. He began writing poetry when he was thirteen, guided by his mother, and much of his writing was published in various Welsh magazines. He continued to write poems, songs and hymns for the rest of his life.
Converted by the leaflets he was setting in type
He first heard about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1845 in Llanybydder, when working for the Reverend John Jones, brother to Captain Dan Jones. Reverend Jones was printing leaflets about the Church at the time, and John Davis was working as editor, typesetter and pressman, which required him to read the leaflets carefully.
What John read led to him being baptised on 19 April 1846. He subsequently travelled on foot throughout Wales and to Dublin, Ireland, as a missionary for his newfound religion. In 1848 he was called as first counselor to William S. Phillips, president of the Welsh Mission. They managed the printing office, producing several periodicals, most notably Udgorn Seion, which he edited from 1849 until his emigration in 1854.
He married Elizabeth Phillips on 30 December 1850, and on 8 December the following year they had a daughter, Julia Elizabeth.
Sixteen pages at a time
John had been chosen to oversee all printing activities for the church in Wales when Dan Jones emigrated in early 1849. In August 1850 he announced, in Udgorn Seion, that he had been instructed to translate and publish the Doctrine and Covenants of the church into Welsh. His intention was to send out a 16-page “signature” of the Doctrine and Covenants in Welsh every other week with an issue of the periodical.
He proudly announced in the 22 February 1851 issue that the first signature of the Llyfr Athrawiaeth a Chyfammodau was off the press. He also wrote, “If the Saints in general wish it to be published every week instead of every fortnight for one-and-a-half pence, let us know.” The response to Davis’s idea was positive, for in 27 weeks from that time the 20th and final signature was sent out with the 23 August 1851 Udgorn Seion. These 20 signatures were then to be bound together for the final product.
About a month before the Doctrine and Covenants was finished, in the 26 July 1851 Zion’s Trumpet, it was announced that they would begin to gather subscriptions for the Book of Mormon. It would be published in the same way as the Doctrine and Covenants, until complete, for a penny and a half per installment, and probably contain from 30 to 32 installments. Sent out with that issue of the periodical was a flyer containing a list of publications in Welsh on one side and a prospectus for the Book of Mormon on the other. In the prospectus, Davis outlined the procedure for producing his translation and proudly stated:
The entire book will be printed with completely new type, and on good paper, and each Signature will contain more reading than the Signatures of the ‘Doctrine and Covenants.’
Copies of this same Welsh translation of the Book of Mormon are available today.
What came off the press
The Llyfr Mormon title page carries his name as translator: “wedi ei gyfieithu o’r ail argraphiad Saesneg Ewropeaidd gan John Davis”.
Welsh was the only language many of these converts read. A mission that could print in Welsh could preach in Welsh, and the press at Merthyr Tydfil put scripture into the hands of people who had never held it in their own tongue. That work sits in a much older Welsh tradition of scriptural translation. Read how the way was prepared →
The publication dates, announcements and quotations here are drawn from the periodical issues themselves, which are the strongest kind of evidence this archive holds: printed, dated and self-attesting. The account of his childhood, education and his father’s congregation comes from biographical material supplied for the archive and awaits confirmation against parish and chapel records. His life after emigrating in 1854 is not yet documented here.
Sources
- Udgorn Seion, neu Seren y Saint — issues of August 1850, 22 February 1851, 26 July 1851 and 23 August 1851; edited by John Davis, 1849–1854.
- Llyfr Athrawiaeth a Chyfammodau (Merthyr Tydfil, 1851) and Llyfr Mormon (Merthyr Tydfil, 1852), both translated by John Davis.
- Biographical account supplied for this archive; to be checked against Carmarthen chapel records and the Welsh Mission minutes.