A journal, 1 June 1832 (not 1831 as written in the top left of the first page) - July 1836, with a few additional entries to 1841, kept by the Reverend W[illia]m Davies, Independent minister and schoolmaster, better known as Dr William Davies (1805-59), Ffrwd-fâl or Froodvale, Cynwyl Gaeo, Carmarthenshire. The writer was ordained 29 June 1832 and in a copy of a certificate of baptism, 1833, to be found in the volume he described himself as 'Independent Minister, officiating at Coverack, Prelow [sic] and Helford [Cornwall].' He left Cornwall 7 July 1834, sailing from Coverack, and returned home to Wales. Other entries record that he went to Froodvale 25 August 1834 and that he opened his grammar school near Froodvale on 2 February 1835. It appears that in the period 1837-41 he received annual payments from Crugybar Congregation for services performed monthly in the chapel. The journal also contains items of verse by William Davies, including a Welsh translation of the hymn by [Isaac] Watts 'How glorious is our heav'nly king' ('O mor fawr a gogoneddus ydyw Brenin daer a Nef'); lines composed by M. M., Coverack, Cornwall received in a letter from 'C. R.' dated 15 September 1834, the second stanza of which begins 'In search of health that boon of heaven For Wales his course does tend'; and lists of books, e.g. 'Books that I read since I came to Froodvale - Aug. 25, 1834' and ' The Books which I use in teaching children'.
