Kay Clegg slogged through the 1854 will of John Gelling of Ballamillaghyn, complete with defendants and petitioners, and all sorts of trials and tribulations of the family emerged. And so did some new family members.

The plaintiffs were John Fargher and his wife Margaret nee Gelling, who turned out to be a daughter we didn't know about before, born ca 1804. They married 1824, had 9 children and many of them ended up in the States. The defendants were John Gelling of Virginia Farm in Braddan, and Thomas Craine of The Glaick, Ballaugh. The plaintiffs won, by the way.

We struggled with the latter two and determined that JG of Virginia, who married Margaret Jane Cottier 1841 Marown, was the son bp 10 Jul 1818 s of John Gelling and Mary Ann Costain md 1809. This couple had 6 children and only John lived, and the parents were gone by the time John was 14. The father John b 1787 was the eldest of the many sons of John G & Eliz Oates who all but the youngest Philip died in their 20s or 30s. I always thought none but Philip married, so was really wrong on that one.

Thomas Craine will be the one b 1830 only son of Thomas Craine and Elizabeth Gelling, one of the daughters of JG & EO. He also was an orphan by 14. He eventually became a landowner and Captain of the parish of Ballaugh, and also a member of the House of Keys.

Old John of Ballamillaghyn, who was nearly 90 and very feeble, also gave two pounds for clothing to his grandson Edward Gelling. who I've found as a farm servant and cow man in all the census's up to his death 1879. His age varied from 1816-1821. He's not in the IGI, and I don't know who his parents were.