Person:Robert Campbell (47)

Some have claimed that Robert's parents were John Campbell and Sarah Vance. Examination of the Revolutionary War pension files clearly rebukes this claim. John and Sarah had a son named Robert, but he was born in 1812 based on a family Bible submitted to court records. There was a son named Archibald born in 1803, but he can be found in the 1860 census residing in Preble county where his parents both died. Genetic evidence suggests that Robert is closely related to John and probably descends from Duncan Campbell and Mary McCoy of Londonberry, Ireland. The exact connection remains undiscovered.

There are many striking crossing of paths between Robert and James Harvey Campbell (1807-1891). 1) Robert and James were contemporaries in the same area of western Tennessee. 2) Robert and James were married in the same county: Madison, Tennessee. 3) James moved to Yell County, Arkansas. Several of Robert's children moved there shortly thereafter. 4) Robert's wife Sarah had a sister Louisa that married William Shane. Shane is often living next to Robert, and he was witness to a land purchase that James made.

This suggests that Robert and James were potentially brothers, but genetic evidence casts doubt on this presumption. 67 marker Y-chromosome analysis of verified descendants of each man places the odds of them being brothers at 26.6%. More probably, they were close kin from a common Campbell immigrant.