 He was named for his paternal uncle, Robert Brank Vance, a former congressman who was killed in a duel during his 1827 campaign.Vance came from a Scotch-Irish, slave-owning family, with a history of military and public service, including his paternal grandfather, who served in the Revolutionary War, and his own father, who fought in the War of 1812.His younger brother was Zebulon B. Vance.