We knew that Robert’s father was descended from Archibald, the 9th Earl of Argyll. Now volunteer Tom has just uncovered a compelling royal connection on Robert’s mother’s side, too: Robert’s mother, Sarah Buchanan, is a descendant of Robert II, King of Scotland. Here is a transcription of the family line, from Americans of Royal Descent: A Collection of Genealogies of American Families Whose Lineage is Traced to the Legitimate Issue of Kings (1891). We have bolded the sections that pertain to Robert and his distant grandfather, King Robert II. What a great find! Thanks, Tom!
PEDIGREE CL.
1. — ROBERT II., King of Scotland, m. Lady Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Adam Mure, Knt., of Rowalton, and had:
2. — ROBERT STEWARD, Duke of Albany; Earl of Monteith and Fife; Regent of Scotland, b. 1339, d. 1419. He m., first, Lady Margaret, granddaugher of Alan, Earl of Monteigh, and had:
3. — MURDACH STEWART, second Duke of Albany; Governor of Scotland, who m. Lady Isabel, daughter of Duncan, Earl of Lenox, and had:
4. — LADY ISABEL STEWART, who m. Sir Walter Buchanan, twelfth Laird of Buchanan, for whose Royal Descent see Pedigree XIII., and had:
5. — THOMAS BUCHANAN, third son, first Laird of Carbeth, who had:
6. — JOHN BUCHANAN, of Easter-Ballat, second son, who had:
7. — THOMAS BUCHANAN, third Laird of Carbeth, who had:
8. — JOHN BUCHANAN, of Gartincaber, who had:
9. — GEORGE BUCHANAN, of Blairlusk, who had:
10. — WILLIAM BUCHANAN, of County Tyrone, Ireland, who had:
11. — PATRICK BUCHANAN, of County Tyrone, Ireland. He had a brother, Robert Buchanan who was one of the first settlers in Cumberland County, Pa. in 1743 he took up a part of an eight-hundred acre tract of land on teh Conondoguinet, near the mouth of Silver’s Run. Robert Buchanan had several brothers in Pennsylvania then: one, Walter, who lived at East Pennsborough, Cumberland Co., where Robert removed, and William, who kept an Inn in Calisle in 1753, and another brother who resided in Hopewell Township in 1748; PATRICK BUCHANAN’S eldest son:
12. — ROBERT BUCHANAN, of County Tyrone, Ireland, had:
1. — GENERAL THOMAS BUCHANAN, b. County Tyrone, 1747-48, d. at Newville, Pa., 13 October 1823. Previous to the American Revolution he removed from Ireland to Pennsylvania, and at the outbreak of the war enlisted, in Cumberland County, Pa., in Colonel William Thompson’s Battalion of Riflemen, in the company of Captain James Chambers. He was commissioned third lieutenant in this battalion, 25 June 1775, and captain, 10 October 1777, in the First Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line. Captain Buchanan resigned from the army 26 September 1779, and in 1789 became Sheriff of Cumberland (now Franklin) County, Pa. He m. Miss McFarlane, and had:
I. — ROBERT BUCHANAN, d 31 May 1833.
II. — ELIZABETH BUCHANAN, d 25 August 1863.
III. — MRS. NANCY SNODGRASS, d 23 April 1859.
IV. — WILLIAM BUCHANAN, d. 7 July 1843.
V. — EZEKIEL BUCHANAN, d. 31 August 1831.
VI. — SARAH, d. 17 August, 1872, wife of Clement McFarland.
VII. — MARY BUCHANAN, of Shippensburg, Pa., d. aged 104 years
VIII. — JANE BUCHANAN, of Shippensburg, Pa., d. aged 100 years.
2. — MARY BUCHANAN, d. 16 October 1823
3. — SARAH BUCHANAN, d. who m. Mr. Campbell, of County Tyrone, Ireland, and had:
I. — HUGH CAMPBELL, of St. Louis, Mo., d.s.p.; m. Mary Kyle
II. — ROBERT CAMPBELL, of St. Louis, Mo., m. Virginia Kyle and had:
i. — HUGH; ii. — HAZLITT; iii. — JAMES