Family-History Pilgrimage: Day 6

Monday, June 12, 8 a.m.

A local artist's Passion set in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park.

Sunday was a great day. We headed out of Edinburgh early-ish so we could get to Glasgow in time for worship at the Scottish Episcopal Cathedral there. The Rev. Ryan Zavacky had e-introduced us to the provost, the Very Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth, with whom we got to chat before and after the service. The building is Victorian Gothic, with beautiful stained glass from that time, as well as murals from the 1990s by a local artist and parishioner, Gwyneth Leech. They depict not so much Biblical scenes, in the sense we’d usually think of that, but Biblical imagery in more modern, even contextual, expression. My favorite is a large three-panel mural depicting Jesus’ betrayal, crucifixion, and resurrection set in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park. The piece must be especially striking for the locals, seeing the Passion in their backyard; but even for a visitor, it’s a good reminder that the Passion wasn’t a churchy event but the lived experience of God (and God’s people) in the world as we inhabit it. 

Glasgow Episcopal Cathedral.

Worship at the cathedral was equally moving – outstanding choral music, which had been featured on the BBC earlier that morning; an excellent sermon from the diocesan canon for mission, the Rev. Audrey O’Brien Stewart; and a remarkably welcoming congregation filling most of the pews.

Then we went to a gastropub across the street, the Loveable Rogue, for Sunday roast. I think I now know what’s served at the banquet of the kingdom of heaven … especially the roast potatoes.

The Govan Stones, a repurposed church building. 

In the afternoon, we visited the Govan Stones, a historical site intersecting with my family’s history. It’s the building and yard of Govan Old Church, which closed as a Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) parish in 2007 when it was merged with a nearby congregation. Govan Old has the longest-surviving churchyard in Scotland. Christian burials have been taking place there since about the year 500; and in the 800s, Viking invaders created a ceremonial burial ground and worship site next to the existing Christian burials. Viking sarcophagi have been found, as well as Christian headstones from across 1,500 years, and examples are displayed in the old church building.

The Gibson marker at Govan Old Church, 
the oldest surviving churchyard in Scotland.

Among the burials are three graves with names from my mother’s side of my family – two Gibsons and one McFarlane. One has no marker remaining; one has a stone whose inscriptions are almost completely worn away; and one has a fairly clear inscription of the names of James Gibson and his wife, Elizabeth Smith Gibson, who died in 1869 and 1886, respectively, as well as their daughter Janet, who died relatively young in 1887. This family isn’t directly in my Gibson line but lived and died in the same community (Govan, now a neighborhood in Glasgow) as Alexander Gibson and Ann McFarlane Gibson, my ancestors. Alexander and Ann were married at Govan Old Church in 1834 and emigrated to the United States in 1851. Alexander was a grocer in Glasgow before he and Ann emigrated, eventually making their way to Perry County, Illinois, where he was living at the time of his citizenship in 1866. The James Gibson buried in the churchyard may well have been Alexander’s cousin, given the common location and timeframe, as well as the fact that Alexander’s father also was named James.

Just my speed of botanical classification.

From Govan Old Church, we ended the afternoon at the Glasgow Botanic Gardens, a lovely way to join hundreds of locals for a few hours in the Scottish sunshine. It’s more a park-like setting than formal gardens, but the plantings were beautiful. The gardens feature Victorian-era glasshouses, too, with a great orchid collection (as well as desert and tropical plants). Of course, Ann got more out of it than I did, but it was absolutely time well-spent.