 Born at San Jacinto, Texas, he was the son of William Lovett and Susan Hardy Lovett.His mother died in 1861 when Robert was only one year old; he was raised by Sarah Elizabeth "Sally" Hood Lovett, his father's second wife.In 1890, he married Lavinia Chilton Abercrombie, daughter of lawyer and Texas state senator Leonard A. Abercrombie, granddaughter of Justice William Parish Chilton.