It seems Robert b 1802 isn't the eldest son of Robert Gelling and Anne Kelly after all.

Robert Sr. died 1835 intestate "Robert Gelling of Ballaclough" and the administator was his son John. The admin says he left Anne Gelling his wife and Jno Gelling, Robert Gelling, Frederick William Gelling, Thomas Gelling, Catherine Jane Gelling alias Clague wife of Jno Clague [of Douglas], and Charlotte Ellinor Gelling alias Clague wife of Jno Clague of Kirk Marown. The wife had died by the time the 108 pounds were distributed in early 1837.

We didn't know about a son John, who appears to be the eldest. Further analysis determined John was born about 1801 and he's the one who married Dorothy Shimmin in 1827 and Alice Collister in 1847 (great-grandparents of Peter Stanley Gelling the anthropolist.). We had thought this John G was the son bp 1803 of John Gelling and Elinor Crellin who married 1798, but not so. Instead, this latter John b 1803 went to Illinois and can be found with his younger sister "Ellen" (actually Charlotte Eleanor b 1816) in 1880 at Mechanicsburg, Sangamon, Illinois. His deceased brother Robert's family is living next door.