Memorable Manitobans: David Thomas Jones (1796-1844)

Cleric.

Born in Wales, he studied at Lampeter Seminary and became a missionary candidate of the Church Missionary Society. He was ordained a deacon in December 1822 and a priest in April 1823, when he left for Red River as John West’s temporary replacement. A low churchman, he got on well with the settlers. He refused to baptize Native people without religious preparation, however. He returned to Wales in 1828-29 and married.

Upon his return he established a boarding school at Upper Church, which became known as Red River Academy. He was appointed to the Council of Assiniboia in 1835. He left the settlement in 1838 after the death of his wife, subsequently serving as professor of Welsh at St. David’s College in Wales. At the time of his death he was rector at Llangoedmor.

More information:

“The Reverend David Jones: Missionary at Red River” by Thomas F. Bredin, The Beaver (autumn 1981): 47-52.

David Thomas Jones, Dictionary of Canadian Biography VII, 454-55.

Source:

Dictionary of Manitoba Biography by J. M. Bumsted, Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1999.

Profile revised: 21 March 2008

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