[1] The family originally hailed from Carmarthenshire, but had settled in Trefeca in 1700, where Howell Sr had purchased a small landholding.

Harris's oldest brother Joseph trained as a blacksmith, but went on to secure a post at the Royal Mint after studying in London.

His other brother Thomas made his name as a tailor to wealthy clients and amassed enough income to purchase estates in Tregunter and Trefeca, and other properties nearby.

[4] In 1750 Harris retreated to his home at Trefeca, having fallen out with a fellow evangelist, Daniel Rowland, and become the subject of public scandal for his close friendship with "Madam" Sidney Griffith.

By this time, the former home of Harris at Trefeca had been turned into a college, whose deputy head, Edwin Williams, took on the task of putting the papers in order.

In 1913, it was decided it would be a better use of resources to set up a Historical Society of the Presbyterian Church of Wales, which would publish a regular journal that would include some of Harris's papers.

Revd Dr Geraint Tudur (son of R. Tudur Jones), formerly Lecturer in Church History at University of Wales, Bangor, and subsequently General Secretary of the Union of Welsh Independents, published a biography: Howell Harris: From Conversion to Separation, 1735–1750 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2000).