Background
He was a son of Michael McClellan (d ca 1757) and Jane Henry McClellan.
He was a son of Michael McClellan (d ca 1757) and Jane Henry McClellan.
The family came to New England when Robert was still a child. In 1771, Robert married Jane Williams in Albany, and they had nine children. At the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1775, he supported the revolutionary cause financially.
Beginning in 1780, he was elected to the Albany City Council, first as assistant, then as alderman.
In 1798, he was appointed New York State Treasurer, a post he held until his resignation on January 31, 1803, after the discovery of a shortage of $33,000 in the Treasury accounts.
In 1776, he became a member of the Albany Committee of Correspondence.