Joseph Harris (Gomer)

(1773-1825)

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Joseph Harris (1773 – 10 August 1825) was a Welsh Baptist minister, author, and journal editor. A Welsh language poet, he took the Biblical name of Gomer as his bardic name. On 1 January 1814 he launched the first Welsh-language weekly Seren Gomer ("Star of Gomer") in Swansea. Gomer was born on a farm in Wolf's Castle, Pembrokeshire, where a plaque was unveiled in his memory, making the 200th anniversary of the launch of Seren Gomer. Gomer himself became a preacher during the religious revival of 1795. He married Martha Symons, and took on Back Street chapel. One of his best-known works, Cofiant Ieuan Ddu, was a biography of his son, John Ryland Harris, who worked as a typesetter for his father's printing press and died at the age of twenty.