Robert Stuart, (February 19, 1785 – October 28, 1848) the son of Charles Stuart, was a partner of John Jacob Astor and was one of the North West Company men, or Nor'westers, enlisted by Astor to help him found his intended fur empire. Young Robert was age 25 when he sailed aboard the Tonquin on its voyage around the Cape to found Fort Astoria. It was he who held the pistol to the head of the ship's Captain Thorn when he attempted to leave the Falkland Islands without Stuart's uncle David, another of the Nor'Wester partners of Astor's Pacific Fur Company.
Because he accompanied the overland expedition from Fort Astoria to St. Louis when the fort was sold off to the North West Company, Robert Stuart is credited as an explorer who was one of those who effectively blazed the Oregon Trail, though his achievement was not recognized until much later. His journal is a detailed account of his wintertime trip from Fort Astoria in what is now Oregon to St. Louis. Washington Irving's Astoria is said to be based on this journal.
After the War of 1812 Stuart continued in Astor's employ as head of the American Fur Company's Northern Department based on Mackinac Island, Michigan. Robert Stuart was also Treasurer of the State of Michigan from 1840-1841. He died on October 28, 1848, and is buried at the historical Elmwood Cemetery, Detroit, Michigan.
The Robert Stuart House is one of fourteen historic buildings in Fort Mackinac. The building has been made into a museum of the fur trading industry, covering the time period begun by French merchants, English businessmen, and Native Americans (buckskins).[1]
Robert Stuart Middle School in Twin Falls, Idaho, is named after the explorer.[2]