The bells of an episcopal cathedral in the American midwest rang out in memory of a Fife magistrate whose 200-year-old remains were targeted by vandals.
A cousin in Laramie, Wyoming, had the bells of St Matthew’s Cathedral toll the Trinity on Thursday to coincide with the interment service being held in Fife in memory of 19th-century East Neuk shipowner Stephen Williamson and his wife Mary Grieve.
Beyond the mourners who gathered in the East Neuk, it has also emerged dozens of Williamsons around the world, from Argentina to New York, contributed to an email chain lending their words and support in the wake of the disturbance of the remains.
Articles from The Courier had been circulated by the family to inform them of what had happened.
Geordie Williamson, 42, who travelled to Fife from Australia, said: “It would be remiss of us not to acknowledge that larger familial support.”
The Courier told how relatives paid homage to their ancestors at a poignant ceremony at Kilrenny Church.
The eight descendents of Stephen Williamson, a local shipowner and farmer who died in 1816, gathered in 15th-Century Kilrenny Church, near Anstruther, to pay their respects as the bones were re-buried.
The “macabre” desecration earlier this month was described as like a “21st-Century act of Burke and Hare”.