Spoiler Alert for 1883, 1923, and Yellowstone
This article mentions suicide.
The Dutton family tree that decorates theYellowstonefranchise with all its best characters spans multiple generations.Yellowstone’s spinoff series paint the picture of the complete family tree and how its roots factor into the lives of the present-dayYellowstonecharacters. The family’s Montana origins are first explored with thecast of1883,the prequel series that shows the oldest-known Dutton family members navigating a westward journey from Texas to Montana.
The family tree continues with thecharacters in1923,expanding the stories of James and Margaret Dutton’s children and showing their struggle to protect the ranch after their parents' deaths. The second prequel introduces Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren to bridge the gap between1883and the present, but some elements of the Dutton family tree remain a mystery. The second1923series and a 1940s-eraYellowstoneprequel in the works will fill in the details.
14Jacob Dutton
Spouse: Cara Dutton
Jacob Dutton is the eldest of the Dutton children who kick offYellowstone’s complete timeline, which starts on the Texas-Oregon Trail, but he isn’t present in the1883spinoff. Jacob Dutton comes to help his sister-in-law, Margaret, after her1883story. Margaret calls on her brother-in-law to help save her family’s land in Montana after her husband, James Dutton, dies.
Jacob Dutton is older than James Dutton, according toTaste of Country.
1923,Taylor Sheridan’s follow-up to1883,tells how Jacob Dutton and his wife, Cara, save the Dutton ranch with the help of James and Margaret’s children, John and Spencer, who are both living as the series kicks off.Jacob is the brother to James and Claire Duttonof1883.He and Cara have no children but treat James and Margaret’s children as their own.
13James Dutton
Spouse: Margaret Dutton
James Dillard Dutton is a main character in1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story.James is married to Margaret Dutton and has three children: Elsa, John, and Spencer. James, a Civil War Veteran and homesteader from Tennessee, embarks on a westward journey with his wife, Elsa, and John. After settling in Montana, James and Margaret give birth to their final child, Spencer.
James and Margaret Dutton’sYellowstoneAppearances
Yellowstoneseason 4, episode 1, “Half the Money”
Yellowstoneseason 4, episode 8, “No Kindness for the Coward”
John and Margaret Dutton
After1883’s conclusion,Margaret and John’s story continues in otherYellowstoneseries. Elsa’s post-mortem1923narration reveals that Margaret freezes in a ditch sometime after she writes to Jacob Dutton, citing that her husband is dead. Flashbacks to James and Margaret’s story inYellowstonereveal that James was fatally shot by horse thieves, dying in front of his family after barely making it home.
12Claire Dutton
Spouse: Henry
Claire Dutton is likely the sister of Jacob and JamesDutton. In1883,after the death of her husband, Henry, she joined her family on their westward journey. Claire Dutton has one surviving daughter, Mary Abel, who begins the westward journey from Texas with her mother. Claire Dutton is a cruel woman who beats her niece. She dies in the second episode of1883.
Claire remarks before her death that all seven of her children have died.
Claire is critical of her family’s plan and plants seeds of doubt about the journey. Claire fatally shoots herself as she sits by the side of the river after her daughter, Mary Abel, is fatally shot. With Shea’s help,James buries his Claire by the riverbank outside Forth Worth, Texas, with the widow never making it out of the state they departed from.
11Elsa Dutton
Spouse: Sam
Elsa Dutton is the child of Margaret and James Dutton and the sister of John and Spencer Dutton.Elsa is a main character in1883,which she narrates. When traveling west from Texas with her family in theYellowstoneprequel saga, she is shot in the liver with an infected arrow and dies from the infection. Her family settles in Elsa’s final resting place in Paradise Valley, Montana.
Despite Elsa’s sunny and hopeful demeanor, hers is the first in a line of tragedies for the Dutton family.
Despite Elsa’s sunny and hopeful demeanor, hers is the first in a line of tragedies for the Dutton family. Elsa never has any children, but she marries Sam, of the Comanche people, before her death. Had Elsa not died of infection, she could have featured in1923,as did her brothers. However,Elsa’s story in1883sets the foundation for the entireYellowstonefranchise.
10John Dutton
Spouse: Emma Dutton
John Dutton is the middle child of James and Margaret Dutton.In1883,John was just a young boywhen he embarked on a westward journey with his family in theYellowstoneprequel. He survives the trip, whereas his sister, Elsa, does not. After settling in Montana, his mother has another child named Spencer, John’s younger brother.
John Dutton I is the only character featured in1883, 1923,andYellowstone.He is of different ages in each installment.
John Dutton is an adult in1923,the series following the events of1883.John marries Emma Dutton, and the couple has one son named Jack. John Dutton died when Banner Creighton,1923’s villain, shoots him in the chest, abdomen, and eye with a Thompson machine gun. After his death, John’s wife, Emma, takes her own life. The events leave their only son, Jack, without any parents.
9Spencer Dutton
Spouse: Alexandra Dutton
Spencer Dutton is the youngest child of James and Margaret Dutton. Spencer doesn’t appear in the1883prequel, but he is born after his parents settle in Montana. Spencer grows up with his brother, John, but never knows his sister, Elsa.Spencer is a main character in1923,and in season 1, the series shows him journeying home to help his aunt Cara and uncle Jacob save the ranch.
1923 Filming Locations: Where The Yellowstone Spinoff Was Filmed
Taylor Sheridan’s 1923 was filmed not just in Montana, but across three different continents - a global expansion of the shared Yellowstone universe.
After experiencing the horrors of war overseas in World War I, Spencer flees to Sub-Saharan Africa, where he copes with his trauma by drinking and hunting large game while working for the Protectorate of Kenya. When he is in Nairobi,Spencer meets a British woman named Alexandra, and she leaves her fiancé, Arthur, for the hunter. The two face perils on their way back to Montana.
8Jack Dutton
Elizabeth Dutton
Jack Dutton is the only son and child of John and Emma Dutton.Jack is a main1923character, shown on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch with his girlfriend, Elizabeth Strafford, whom he marries. Elizabeth and Jack are expecting a child in1923season 1. However, they sadly lose the baby before season 1’s conclusion, continuing the trend of childless Dutton women.
Spencer and Jack of1923are the only two Dutton males who remain to pass the Dutton bloodline down. While the link needs clarification, the family tree continues with John Dutton II.
It’s unclear whether Jack and Elizabeth will get pregnant again. However, we know thateither Jack or Spencer pass down the Dutton bloodline. Jack is John Dutton I’s son, and Spencer is James Dutton’s son, so they both carry it. The second season of1923will likely reveal the father of John Dutton II, John Dutton III’s father, who passes down the ranch.
7John Dutton II
Spouse: Unknown
John Dutton II is the father of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III, the protagonist ofYellowstoneseasons 1-5A. InYellowstone,John Dutton II is introduced in a flashback to John Dutton III’s final moments with his father. The elder Dutton wants to go for one more horseback ride, so he rides with his son to a special part of the ranch, where he dies.
Watch John Dutton II’s scene with his son inYellowstoneseason 2, episode 10, “Sins of the Father.”
John Dutton II is an extension of the bloodline established in1883and1923.However,no official confirmation of John Dutton II’s father exists. At this point, the link between Jack and Spencer Dutton of1923and the continuation of the Dutton family inYellowstoneis murky.1923season 2 can clear up the confusion, revealing whose children the ranch passes down to.
6John Dutton III
Spouse: Evelyn Dutton
John Dutton III is the star of theYellowstonefranchise, though his story ends in theYellowstoneseason 5, part 2 premiere.John Dutton marries Evelyn Dutton, and the couple has three children: Lee, Beth, and Kayce. John Dutton III also adopts Jamie, who is considered part of the family tree for much of the Yellowstone series, but his betrayal causes the Dutton family to cut him out.
Why Yellowstone Had No Choice But To Do That Kevin Costner’s John Dutton Twist
Yellowstone’s return doesn’t waste any time explaining John Dutton III’s fate. Sad as it may be, the show didn’t have a choice about the matter.
Only one of John Dutton’s three biological children would carry the bloodline and pass down the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. Lee Dutton dies in theYellowstoneseries premiere, and Beth Dutton isn’t able to have children due to an abortion procedure that sterilizes her. As such,Kayce Dutton, John’s youngest son, and his son, Tate, are heirsto the Dutton family legacy.
5Lee Dutton
Spouse: None
One of the only Dutton family members who never marries or has children,Lee is the oldest son of John Dutton III. While some family members, like Elsa or Beth, can’t start their own families, they still have a romantic partner. Lee’s lack of emotional connections makes his character truly unique. He makes up for it by arguably being the most dedicated to the ranch he was supposed to run.
Lee dies in theYellowstoneseries premiereas he and several other ranch employees attempt to remove their cattle from the reservation. Monica’s brother, Robert Long, mortally wounds Lee, who Lee’s younger brother, Kayce, then kills. The tragedy surroundingLee’s death forms a rift between his surviving family members, who often struggle to run and protect the ranch in his absence.
