Robert O. and Jane Ann Sinclair Gillies were natives of Edinburgh, Scotland where they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Gillies family crossed the Atlantic on the ship S. Curling in 1856. The ship left Liverpool, England on April 19, 1856 and arrived in Boston Massachusetts on May 23, 1856.

Robert and family was traveling with his father John who died on July 1 near the Elkhorn River. Between July 11 and July 17, he decided to stop traveling with the company and turn back. Some of the sources mistakenly give his father's age as 88 and also mistakenly give his name as John instead of Robert. The family consisting of Robert age 36, Jane Ann age 37, John Monroni age 10, Ann Campbell age 10, Daniel Sinclair age 7 and Christina Gibb age 4, traveled from there to Iowa City, Iowa where they started for Utah that year with the Hodgetts Company. The company consisted of about 160 individuals in 33 wagons.

They halted somewhere along the way. In 1857 they joined the Jesse B. Martin Company in another effort to get to Utah. This company consisted of 192 individuals and 34 wagons. Between July 11 and July 17, they decided to stop traveling with this company and turn back. A child, John Moroni, died 17 Nov. 1857; but the rest of the family eventually made it to Utah by 1859 as they were enumerated in the 1860 July census at Beaver

Robert Jane and family arrived in Utah in 1859. They settled for the time in Bountiful where one of Jane's sisters lived. They moved soon after to Beaver where Robert and his brother Ebenezer, who were both cabinet makers went into business. This was a very useful trade as they made chairs, bedsteads, and other articles of furniture. Their workmanship was perfect and some of their chairs and chests are still prized by some of their descendants.

Robert passed away in Farmington, Davis County, Utah on October 6, 1866 at the age of 47.