Which books this Outlander Fraser family tree follows
The chart follows the novels, not the television series. It covers the first seven books in Gabaldon’s order of reading, which her own site lists as Outlander, Dragonfly in Amber, Voyager, Drums of Autumn, The Fiery Cross, A Breath of Snow and Ashes and An Echo in the Bone.1 The Starz series adapts one book a season for its first seven seasons, so a viewer who has seen season seven has reached the same point.14
Every relationship on the chart appears at the book whose plot reveals it, as the sources below summarise the plots. Where no source opened for this page names the book, the person appears at the earliest book the sources do name. The spoilers run to the end of An Echo in the Bone.
Jamie Fraser, his parents and his sister
Jamie Fraser, born James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser, is the laird of Lallybroch.125 His parents are Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, both dead before the story opens. Ellen died in childbirth when Jamie was eight, and his elder brother Willie died of smallpox when Jamie was six.3
His sister Jenny is his only living sibling. She lives at Lallybroch with her husband Ian Murray, Jamie’s friend from childhood, and Claire meets them both in the first book.513 Wikipedia’s list of characters names six children, of whom Young Ian is the youngest.13 Only Young Ian is drawn, because he leaves Lallybroch in Voyager to follow his uncle.7 Ian Murray dies of consumption in An Echo in the Bone.11
Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, a real man in a fictional family
Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, is the only person on this chart who lived. He was the eleventh Lord Lovat, chief of Clan Fraser, and he was beheaded on Tower Hill on 9 April 1747.15 In Dragonfly in Amber Jamie is sent to win over his grandfather, Lord Lovat, and the chart draws Lovat from that book on.615 The book ends at Culloden, the year before his execution, so his cross appears only from Voyager on.615
The family link is invented. Gabaldon writes on her site that she changed nothing in Lovat’s life except to graft an illegitimate and fictional branch onto his family tree by making him Jamie’s grandfather.2 The chart therefore draws Brian Fraser as Lovat’s son with no mother named and no marriage. She told Clan Fraser that she took the surname from a line about a Fraser of the Master of Lovat’s regiment.4 For Lovat’s real wives, sons and heirs, see the Clan Fraser family tree, which leaves out every Outlander character.
Jamie’s mother’s family, the MacKenzies of Leoch
Ellen’s brothers are Colum MacKenzie, chief of the clan and laird of Leoch, and his younger brother Dougal.513 Their youngest sister, Jocasta, lives at River Run in North Carolina.13 She is not drawn, because no plot summary opened for this page names the book in which she appears.
Colum’s heir is Hamish. The first book hints that Dougal may be the boy’s real father, and Wikipedia’s list of characters says that Dougal fathered him in secret.513 Audible’s guide gives Hamish to Colum in one section and to Dougal in another.3 The chart draws the parent line from Colum and a dashed red arrow from Dougal.
Dougal also had a son with Geillis Duncan, the wife of the procurator fiscal, whose twentieth-century name was Gillian Edgars. The son was William Buccleigh MacKenzie.13 In Dragonfly in Amber Claire learns that Roger Wakefield descends from Dougal and Geillis.6 The chart joins Geillis to Roger with a dotted arrow, because the generations between them are not drawn. Roger was adopted by the Reverend Wakefield, who raised him.13
Laoghaire MacKenzie is a girl of sixteen at Leoch in the first book who is drawn to Jamie.5 In Voyager she is Jamie’s second wife, with two daughters by an earlier husband, Simon MacKimmie.713 The Jamie Fraser article lists the marriage as annulled, and the chart draws it as a brown double line that reads married, then parted.12
Frank Randall, Black Jack and Alex Randall
Claire starts the series married to Frank Randall, a history professor, on a second honeymoon in Inverness. The American editions set that opening in 1945, and the British edition in 1946.5 Frank’s ancestor Jonathan Randall, an army officer called Black Jack, is the villain of the first book, and Dougal arranges Claire’s marriage to Jamie to keep her from him.5
Dragonfly in Amber settles which Randall Frank descends from. Before his death, Jack’s younger brother Alex has Mary Hawkins and Jack marry. Claire sees that Frank’s line is safe after all.613 Audible’s guide names Mary’s son Denys and says that his real father was Alexander.3 The chart draws a marriage between Jack and Mary, a partnership between Alex and Mary, and a dotted arrow of descent from Alex to Frank.
Faith, Brianna, Fergus, William and the grandchildren
Claire and Jamie lose their first daughter, Faith, in Paris in Dragonfly in Amber. The book’s article calls it a miscarriage, and the Jamie Fraser article calls her stillborn.612 In the same book Claire tells their second daughter, Brianna, raised in Boston as Frank’s child, who her father is.613 Jamie also hires a French boy called Claudel and renames him Fergus, and the chart draws him as their adopted son.63
In Voyager, Geneva Dunsany, married to the Earl of Ellesmere, bears Jamie’s son William and dies the next day.7 William grows up as heir to the earldom and a ward of Lord John Grey, and he learns that Jamie is his father in An Echo in the Bone.311 Marsali MacKimmie, Laoghaire’s elder daughter, sails with Jamie and Claire in Voyager to marry Fergus.7 Their children Germain, Joan, Félicité and Henri-Christian are left off the chart.13
In Drums of Autumn Roger courts Brianna.8 In The Fiery Cross the two make their marriage official and baptise their son Jeremiah, called Jemmy.9 By An Echo in the Bone they live at Lallybroch in the twentieth century with Jem and Mandy.11 Wikipedia’s list names a third child, David. The summaries of the first seven books do not mention him, so the chart leaves him out.13
The Outlander Fraser family tree, book by book
Six story positions carry the chart through seven books. A Breath of Snow and Ashes has no position of its own, because its plot summary names no new relative.10 The years come from the Wikipedia articles on each book. Voyager is dated 1993 in its lead and 1994 in the series list, and Drums of Autumn 1996 in its summary box and 1997 in the series list.78
Book one, 1991
Outlander
Spoiler note. The family as the first book sets it up.
- Claire is married to Frank Randall, falls back to 1743 and marries Jamie.
- Jenny and Ian live at Lallybroch, and Colum and Dougal rule Leoch.
Sources5
Book two, 1992
Dragonfly in Amber
Spoiler note. Brianna and Roger, Faith, Fergus, Lovat and the Randall marriage.
- Lord Lovat is Jamie’s grandfather, and Faith is lost in Paris.
- Brianna learns who her father is, and Roger learns that he descends from Dougal and Geillis.
Sources6
Book three, 1993
Voyager
Spoiler note. William, Laoghaire and Marsali.
- Geneva Dunsany bears Jamie’s son William and dies.
- Jamie has married Laoghaire, and Marsali sails to marry Fergus.
Sources7
Book four, 1996
Drums of Autumn
Spoiler note. Roger and Brianna.
- Roger courts Brianna, who follows her parents into the past.
Sources8
Book five, 2001
The Fiery Cross
Spoiler note. A wedding and a baptism.
- Roger and Brianna make their marriage official and baptise Jemmy.
Sources9
Book seven, 2009
An Echo in the Bone
Spoiler note. The end of the chart.
- William learns that Jamie is his father, and Lord John marries Claire to protect her.
- Ian Murray dies, and Brianna and Roger live at Lallybroch with Jem and Mandy.
Sources11
How to read this Outlander Fraser family tree
A square is a man and a circle is a woman, and a cross marks someone dead at the story position you are on. A line between two people is a couple, and the lines that drop from it lead to their children.
The coloured marks give each person’s family, blue for the Frasers, green for the MacKenzies and rust for the Randalls. Lord Lovat sits alone in a red outline marked as a real person. The dotted grey arrows stand for descent across generations the chart does not draw, from Alex Randall to Frank and from Geillis Duncan to Roger.
To draw your own Outlander Fraser family tree with the later books, open this chart in the editor and add people at new story positions, or start a fresh chart with the family tree maker. The guides in Learn explain the symbols, and other story charts are on Stories.
Questions about the Outlander Fraser family tree
Is Jamie Fraser related to the real Lord Lovat
Only in the novels. Gabaldon made the real Lord Lovat Jamie’s grandfather through an invented illegitimate son.2 The real Lovat family is on the Clan Fraser family tree.
People and sources
A page of its own lists all 28 characters on the chart, each with a short note and the sources for it, and the 15 numbered sources this article cites. It also gives this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.
