Isabella Trotter was the daughter of Dr Robert Trotter of the Glenkens. In this essay she tells of a visit to New Galloway where she heard the four Glenkens ministers preach at an open air service. It was published in Mackenzie's Historical and Traditional Tales, 1843. Elsewhere on this site the death of Mr McGowan is recorded as happening in 1826 and Rev. Currie in 1825, which dates the visits mentioned.

The Four Glenkens Ministers – by Isabella Trotter.

After a long and fatiguing journey, I arrived at the Kenmure Arms Inn, New-Galloway, a small but royal burgh upon the banks of the Ken, and distant only about a quarter of a mile from Kenmure Castle, the beautiful baronial residence of the ancient and noble family of Kenmure. I slept soundly after the fatigue of the preceding evening and it was almost te o'clock before I awoke on a bright beautiful Sabbath morning, about the middle of June. The sun was already far up in the heavens, and a number of individuals stood at their doors, in their holiday suits, with their Bibles and Psalm-books in their hands; others were slowly moving towards the church, with a serious composed aspect, as if revolving in their mind the solemn duties in which they were to be engaged in the course of the day.

Ashamed of my indolence I hastily dressed myself, and rung for breakfast. My landlady made her appearance, and I inquired if it could possibly be time for church. “It will soon be time," replied she, "for today being our sacrament, public service begins earlier than on ordinary days.” “As I not approve of travelling on Sundays, when it can be avoided, I think I shall remain to-day, and be present at the solemnity. I suppose there will be no difficulty in finding a seat?”O no, Sir, for the preaching is without; however, I suppose this will be the last time, for by next year our new church will be finished, and it will be large enough for all the congregation, and those who join, with us from the neighbouring parishes.” “I understand it is customary to come from a great distance upon occasions of this kind ?" "O yes, twelve or fourteen miles is thought nothing of, and on the Sunday previous the assistant ministers enjoin it as a duty upon their hearers, to embrace every opportunity of this kind, as the sacrament is dispensed only once a-year in this and the adjoining parishes." "Mr Currie of Carsephairn, Mr McGowan of Dalry, and Mr Thomson of Balmaclellan, are your assistant ministers I think - their names are familiar to me, closely associated with those of their respective parishes, and so blended with my earliest recollections that they seem to be old and intimate acquaintances, although I have been in a foreign country the greater part of my life. But in a distant land we cherish all that we can remember of our early youth, and there, even the name of a stranger sounds like music in our ears, if he came from the heath-covered mountains of our own much loved Scotland."

After a hurried breakfast, and some slight alteration in my dress, I went to the place of worship, where a large concourse of people had already assembled. I was accommodated with a seat in the manse tent, which I considered as particularly fortunate, the day being very hot and sultry: and about noon there was thunder, accompanied by a smart shower of rain; and but for this arrangement I would have been awkwardly situated, not being provided with an umbrella. After prayer and praise, we had an eloquent and appropriate discourse from Mr Gillespie, (minister of the parish) when the solemn duty of "serving the tables" commenced, and was conducted in a very becoming manner. I suppose some hundreds must have joined on this occasion, in celebrating the death of our blessed Saviour; and it was really a beautiful and imposing sight to see them seated among the tombs of their ancestors, and partaking of the sacred elements, beneath the canopy of a clear blue sky - the fields clothed with a rich verdure, and enamelled with flowers, and the trees which bounded the lovely landscape on either side of the churchyard, adorned with the gayest foliage of summer, from which a number of little winged songsters poured forth their mellow notes responsive to the vocal harmony of the many human voices that in mingling chorus was borne aloft towards the portals of heaven. It was also very interesting to see the four ministers standing uncovered within the sacred pale, in the discharge of their solemn functions. The heads of Mr McGowan and Mr Thomson were whitened o'er by the hand of time, and the locks of Mr Currie were also mingling with the silver gray. Mr Gillespie was much younger than any of his reverend brethren, and his appearance was altogether youthful and very engaging - his countenance though pale was animated and intelligent, and when lighted up by the smile of kindness and benevolence (its usual expression) was singularly prepossessing. Extremely affable and easy of approach, his manners were polished in the highest degree and his conversation agreeable, and replete with the rich intellectual stores of a highly cultivated mind.

At the conclusion of public worship I received an invitation to spend the evening at the manse, and an introduction to his sisters and the other assistant ministers followed as a matter of course. Our conversation chiefly turned upon the occurrences of the day, and the solemn duties in which we had severally been engaged, having a tendency to keep alive the salutary impression which these had produced. Though in each of the Worthy divines I observed some striking peculiarity that more strongly marked his character and favourite pursuits, yet one characteristic was observable in all, viz. that charity, benevolence, unaffected piety, and simplicity of manned, which generally distinguish the real Christian from those who are merely pretenders to the name. After an evening spent in the most satisfactory manner we took leave of each other with the hope expressed on all sides that we should meet again at no distant period, and I promised a visit to each of my worthy friends, immediately after my return to my native country. I was then on my way to Liverpool, whence I embarked for North America, where I was stationary upwards of two years.

Upon my return I felt a strong wish to revisit the romantic district of the Glenkens, and spend a few days with the "four ministers," in whose society I had passed so agreeable an evening before my last trip across the Atlantic. I alighted at the Kenmure Arms as formerly, and was instantly recognized by mine host and hostess, from whom I made enquiries respecting Mr Gillespie and his three worthy colleagues, and with melancholy surprise learned that they were all dead! All of them had been swept off in the short period of a year, and within a few months of each other. Mr McGowan, the eldest of the three, had survived his brethern only to witness the last duties paid to departed worth, and to mourn the ties of broken friendship which were so soon to be united in the world of spirits, when he dropt into the grave, full of days, yet lamented by a numerous family and a large circle of acquaintances, as if he had fallen in the prime of life - mourned too in a beautiful poetic effusion, from the gifted pen of Miss L. Gillespie. The circumstances attending Mr Gillespie's death were particularly affecting. Long attached to an amiable and accomplished female, he had been united to the object of his early affection only a few months, when he was seized with a malignant fever, which soon put a period to his existence, leaving his young wife, and a family of affectionate brothers and sisters, almost inconsolable for his loss. Those families dispersed and far distant from their peaceful abode, the happy homes of childhood, are now cast upon the wide world without a parental roof to shelter them, and far removed from each other in the land of strangers. But affection still lingers on the banks of Ken - one social tie remains - the sacred link of kindred feeling that shall long unite these scattered families in bonds of the strictest union and when time has assuaged the poignancy of anguish, the hallowed remembrance of the past, and of the many virtues which adorned the husbands, fathers, and brothers, whom they now untimely mourn, shall be renewed with pleasing satisfaction; and when they shall again revisit their native Glenkens, the inhabitants of that peaceful valley shall hail them with the affectionate welcome of long-remembered friendship, and there long, long shall be cherished the memory of the “four Glenkens' Ministers.”

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