Yellowstone's Dutton Family Tree Explained (Including 1883 & 1923)

Spoiler Alert for 1883, 1923, and Yellowstone

This article mentions suicide.

The Dutton family tree that decorates the Yellowstone franchise 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-day Yellowstone characters. The family’s Montana origins are first explored with the cast of 1883, the prequel series that shows the oldest-known Dutton family members navigating a westward journey from Texas to Montana.

The family tree continues with the characters in 1923, 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 between 1883 and the present, but some elements of the Dutton family tree remain a mystery. The second 1923 series and a 1940s-era Yellowstone prequel in the works will fill in the details.

14 Jacob Dutton

Spouse: Cara Dutton

Jacob Dutton is the eldest of the Dutton children who kick off Yellowstone‘s complete timeline, which starts on the Texas-Oregon Trail, but he isn’t present in the 1883 spinoff. Jacob Dutton comes to help his sister-in-law, Margaret, after her 1883 story. Margaret calls on her brother-in-law to help save her family’s land in Montana after her husband, James Dutton, dies.

1923, Taylor Sheridan’s follow-up to 1883, 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 Dutton of 1883. He and Cara have no children but treat James and Margaret’s children as their own.

13 James Dutton

Spouse: Margaret Dutton

• Children: Elsa, John, and Spencer

James Dillard Dutton is a main character in 1883: 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.

After 1883‘s conclusion, Margaret and John’s story continues in other Yellowstone series. Elsa’s post-mortem 1923 narration 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 in Yellowstone reveal that James was fatally shot by horse thieves, dying in front of his family after barely making it home.

12 Claire Dutton

Spouse: Henry

• Children: Mary Abel, six others

Claire Dutton is likely the sister of Jacob and James Dutton. In 1883, 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 of 1883.

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.

11 Elsa 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 in 1883, which she narrates. When traveling west from Texas with her family in the Yellowstone prequel 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 in 1923, as did her brothers. However, Elsa’s story in 1883 sets the foundation for the entire Yellowstone franchise.

10 John Dutton

Spouse: Emma Dutton

John Dutton is the middle child of James and Margaret Dutton. In 1883, John was just a young boy when he embarked on a westward journey with his family in the Yellowstone prequel. 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 in
1883, 1923,
and
Yellowstone.
He is of different ages in each installment.

John Dutton is an adult in 1923, the series following the events of 1883. 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.

9 Spencer Dutton

Spouse: Alexandra Dutton

Spencer Dutton is the youngest child of James and Margaret Dutton. Spencer doesn’t appear in the 1883 prequel, 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 in 1923, and in season 1, the series shows him journeying home to help his aunt Cara and uncle Jacob save the ranch.

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.

8 Jack Dutton

Elizabeth Dutton

Jack Dutton is the only son and child of John and Emma Dutton. Jack is a main 1923 character, shown on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch with his girlfriend, Elizabeth Strafford, whom he marries. Elizabeth and Jack are expecting a child in 1923 season 1. However, they sadly lose the baby before season 1’s conclusion, continuing the trend of childless Dutton women.

Spencer and Jack of
1923
are 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 that either 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 of 1923 will likely reveal the father of John Dutton II, John Dutton III’s father, who passes down the ranch.

7 John Dutton II

Spouse: Unknown

• Children: John Dutton III, Peter

John Dutton II is the father of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III, the protagonist of Yellowstone seasons 1-5A. In Yellowstone,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 in
Yellowstone
season 2, episode 10, “Sins of the Father.”

John Dutton II is an extension of the bloodline established in 1883 and 1923. However, no official confirmation of John Dutton II’s father exists. At this point, the link between Jack and Spencer Dutton of 1923 and the continuation of the Dutton family in Yellowstone is murky. 1923 season 2 can clear up the confusion, revealing whose children the ranch passes down to.

6 John Dutton III

Spouse: Evelyn Dutton

• Children: Lee, Beth, and Kayce Dutton

John Dutton III is the star of the Yellowstone franchise, though his story ends in the Yellowstone season 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.

Only one of John Dutton’s three biological children would carry the bloodline and pass down the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. Lee Dutton dies in the Yellowstone series 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 heirs to the Dutton family legacy.

5 Lee 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 the Yellowstone series premiere as 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 surrounding Lee’s death forms a rift between his surviving family members, who often struggle to run and protect the ranch in his absence.

4 Beth Dutton

Spouse: Rip Wheeler

• Children: Cater (Adopted)

Beth Dutton is the only daughter of John and Evelyn Dutton. Beth is a star of the Yellowstone series, along with her brother Kayce, her adopted brother Jamie, and her husband, Rip Wheeler. Beth marries Rip in the Yellowstone season 4 finale, officially tying the knot after knowing each other for years. Beth returns to the ranch in the Yellowstone premiere.

Despite not having their own children, Beth and Rip raise Carter, a boy who gravitates toward Beth after losing his father.

Sadly, Beth cannot have children in Yellowstone. The series reveals in a flashback that when Beth enlisted Jamie to help her get an abortion as a teenager, he signed off on the procedure despite knowing that the reservation clinic legally had to sterilize his sister to perform the procedure. Beth is deeply resentful of her brother for taking motherhood away from her.

3 Kayce Dutton

Spouse: Monica Dutton

• Children: Tate Dutton & John Dutton IV

Kayce Dutton is the youngest son of John Dutton III. After the death of his brother Lee and the betrayal of his adopted brother Jamie, Kayce and his son, Tate, are set to inherit the ranch. After his brother passes in Yellowstone, Kayce has to step up and protect the ranch, which he has tried to do throughout the series, but he falters along the way, trying to protect his own family.

Kayce marries Monica when they are young after the unexpected arrival of their son, Tate Dutton. Monica and Kayce are deeply in love and stay together to raise Tate, their only living child. Monica was pregnant with another son in Yellowstone season 4, but the baby, whom they name John Dutton IV, doesn’t survive a car accident that happens on Monica’s way to the hospital.

2 Tate Dutton

Spouse: Not Applicable

Tate Dutton is Monica and Kayce Dutton’s oldest son and their only surviving child. Tate momentarily has a brother before he dies of injuries sustained in a car accident on his way to the hospital. As such, Tate is one of the only children on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, highlighting his importance as one of the only family members leading the next generation.

Tate is the seventh generation of ranchers in his family.

Tate could have another sibling in the future, as he, Monica, and Kayce have alluded to Monica having more children. While Tate seems too old to have younger siblings, his parents got together when they were young, putting Kayce and Monica in their early 30s. Still, as it stands, Tate is the de facto heir of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.

1 John Dutton IV

Spouse: Not Applicable

John Dutton IV is the youngest member of the Dutton family tree, although he is no longer living. John Dutton IV is the deceased son of Monica and Kayce Dutton, who died from injuries sustained in a car accident on Monica’s way to the hospital. The death of their infant son was a devastating loss for Monica and Kayce, who have experienced many tragedies during Yellowstone‘s run.

John Dutton IV’s death bridges the gap between their worlds when Monica asks that John be buried on the ranch so her family can always visit him.

Throughout Yellowstone, Monica and Kayce are torn between their connection to the ranch and their will to raise their own family outside the hectic environment of Yellowstone. John Dutton IV’s death bridges the gap between their worlds when Monica asks that John be buried on the ranch, so her family can always visit him. Monica and Kayce then move onto the ranch again, with the tragedy of their son’s death bringing the whole family closer.

Source: Taste of Country