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Dorothea Hunter, usually called Dottie, is the daughter and youngest child of Minerva and Harold Grey and wife of Denzell Hunter. Her godfather is her uncle Lord John Grey.

Personal History[]

Dottie was born in late summer or early autumn of 1758 to Minnie and Harold Grey, Duke of Pardloe.

Lord John Series[]

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade[]

Lord John becomes Dottie's godfather at her christening.

"The Custom of the Army"[]

In late spring of 1759, infant Dottie accompanies her father to Jermyn Street to deliver several urgent letters to Lord John regarding events at a party the night before. Dottie finds her chief occupation in teething on a rusk as well as her father's knuckles, becoming fussy and being handed off between the brothers throughout their conversation.

Outlander Series[]

An Echo in the Bone[]

In 1776, Dottie writes a letter to her step-cousin William who is currently stationed in America and receives the letter in August. In September, William writes a letter to his step-father Lord John Grey in which he claims to be in love with Dottie and asks Grey to present his suit for her hand to Dottie's father Hal.

In late 1776, the Grey family receives news that their youngest son Henry was seriously wounded and captured in America, and Hal suffers an attack. Dottie and her mother nurse him back to health.

Lord John Grey doesn't believe William's claims that he and Dottie are in love, and confronts Dottie in an attempt to figure out what the two are up to. However, he eventually speaks to Hal on William's behalf, and Hal isn't opposed to the marriage between their children.

In April 1777, Dottie and her uncle Lord John leave for Philadelphia in order to rescue Dottie's brother Henry who is held prisoner there. However, Grey suspects that Dottie might also have other hidden motives for the journey.

In December 1777 Dottie professes her love to Denny and that for him she would become a Quaker. The two become engaged.

Written in My Own Heart's Blood[]

In June 1778, Dottie and Denny help her uncle Lord John Grey escape from a Continental army's camp. During the Battle of Monmouth, Dottie helps as a nurse for Denny and Claire Fraser.

In late July/early August 1778, Dottie and Denny are married in a double Quaker wedding with Rachel Hunter and Ian Murray.

In September 1778, Dottie travels with her uncle John to Savannah in search of Amaranthus Cowden, a woman who claims to be the widow of Dottie's brother Benjamin and the mother of his son Trevor. When Dottie realizes that she is pregnant, Lord John takes her back to New York to her husband.

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone[]

Dottie remains in New York with her husband. At some point, her brother, Benjamin Grey, also joins them in New York. Unfortunately Denzell is captured in New York and is being held at Stony Point. A pregnant Dottie gives birth to a baby girl, Mina Hunter, but she dies of a fever not long after birth.

Personality[]

Dorothea is a Grey. Any member of her family would pause on the gallows to exchange witty banter with the hangman before graciously putting the noose about his neck with his own hands.


Dottie is described as a born flirt, a trait she displays even as an infant. As a young woman, she proves to be of a mildly devious turn of mind when she orchestrates her travel to America in 1777, under the pretense that she has fallen in love with her cousin, William Ransom.

Physical Appearance[]

She has her mother's autumn-leaf coloring, with hair the color of ripened wheat and cheeks with the perpetual flush of rose hips. Her face has the look of her father with fine bones and his dark lashes. Her beauty had a dangerous edge to it.

Relationships[]

William Ransom is the step-son of Dottie's uncle and godfather, Lord John Grey. In September 1776, William sends a letter to Grey, in which he claims to be in love with Dottie and asks Grey to talk to her father Hal about William's intention to marry her.

Dottie met and fell in Love with Denzell Hunter while he was studying in London. However, he had to return to the colonies. Dottie planned to get to the colonies by having her step-cousin William Ransom pose as her betrothed. When Denzell and his sister Rachel Hunter came to perform surgery on Dottie's brother Henry, she proclaimed her love to Denny and that she had given it much thought and would become a Quaker for him. The two become engaged in December 1777, and got married in summer 1778 in a double Quaker wedding along with Rachel and Ian Murray. In September 1778, Dottie realized that she was pregnant with their first child.

Name[]

  • Dorothea is the feminine form of the Late Greek name Δωροθεος (Dorotheos), which meant "gift of God" from Greek δωρον (doron) "gift" and θεος (theos) "god".[2]
  • Jacqueline is the French feminine form of Jacques,[3] the French form of Jacob[4] from the Latin Iacobus, which was from the Greek Ιακωβος (Iakobos), which was from the Hebrew name יַעֲקֹב (Ya'aqov) meaning "holder of the heel" or "supplanter". Other theories claim that it is in fact derived from a hypothetical name like יַעֲקֹבְאֵל (Ya'aqov'el) meaning "may God protect".[5]
  • Benedicta is the feminine form of the late Latin name Benedictus, which meant "blessed".[6][7]
  • Grey has two possible origins: 1) an Anglo-Saxon, Old English nickname for someone with grey hair or a grey beard, derived from the Old English pre 7th Century word "graeg", grey; 2) from the place called "Graye" in Calvados, Normandy, so called from the Old Gallo-Roman personal name "Gratus" meaning "Welcome" or "Pleasing", with the suffix "acum" meaning settlement or village.[8]
  • Hunter is an occupational name which referred to someone who hunted for a living, from Old English hunta.[9]

Trivia[]

References[]

  1. Age as of the end of Written in My Own Heart's Blood.
  2. Behind the Name: Dorothea - accssed 03 June 2016
  3. Behind the Name: Jacqueline - accessed 03 June 2016
  4. Behind the Name: Jacques - accessed 03 June 2016
  5. Behind the Name: Jacob - accessed 03 June 2016
  6. Behind the Name: Benedicta – accessed 10 May 2016
  7. Behind the Name: Benedict – accessed 10 May 2016
  8. The Internet Surname Database – accessed 19 June 2014
  9. Behind the Name Surname: Hunter - accessed 15 June 2016
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