The Ewing family is the fictional family of the American prime time soap opera Dallas and its 2012 revival, as well as the foundation of the spin-off series Knots Landing. In the original series of Dallas, the Ewings own and run Southfork Ranch and the oil giant Ewing Oil; in the revival series, Ewing Oil is replaced by Ewing Global, formerly Ewing Energies. Knots Landing features the large corporation of Gary Ewing Enterprises.

Family members Italics indicates offscreen or unnamed character. Bold indicates series regular on Dallas, Knots Landing or the revival series.

Leander Ewing † Jason Ewing † (1906–84), son of Leander, married Nancy Shaw (1950s–62) Jack Ewing (1951–94), son of Jason and Nancy, married April Stevens (1984–85) Jamie Ewing (1959–87), daughter of Jason and Nancy, married Cliff Barnes (1985–87) John Ross "Jock" Ewing, Sr. † (1909–82), son of Leander, married Amanda Lewis (1927–30), Eleanor Southworth (1936–82) John Ross "J.R." Ewing, Jr. † (1939–2013), son of Jock and Ellie, married Sue Ellen Shepard (1971–81, 1982–88), Cally Harper (1988–91) James Richard Beaumont (1968–), son of J.R. and Vanessa Beaumont, married Debra Lynn Warren (1989), Michelle Stevens (1991) James Richard "Jimmy" Beaumont, Jr. (1989–), son of James and Debra John Ross Ewing III (1979–), son of J.R. and Sue Ellen Shepard, married Pamela Rebecca Barnes (2013–) J.R. and Cally's son (1991–) J.R.'s daughter Garrison Arthur "Gary" Ewing (1943–), son of Jock and Ellie, married Valene Clements (1961–62, 1979–83, 1991–), Abby Fairgate (1983–87) Lucy Ewing (1962–), daughter of Gary and Val, married Mitch Cooper (1981–82, 1985–89) Robert James "Bobby" Ewing II and Elizabeth "Betsy" Ewing (1984–), twins of Gary and Val Molly Whittaker (1994–), illegitimate daughter of Gary and Kate Whittaker Raymond "Ray" Krebbs (1944–), illegitimate son of Jock and Margaret Hunter, married Donna McCullum (1981–87), Jenna Wade (1987–) Margaret Krebbs (1987–), daughter of Ray and Donna Bobby James Ewing (1949–), son of Jock and Ellie, married Pamela Barnes (1978–83, 1986–87), April Stevens (1990), Ann Smith (2005–) Christopher Ewing (1981–), illegitimate son of Kristin Shepard and Jeff Farraday, adopted by Bobby and Pam, married Pamela Rebecca Barnes (2012–13) Lucas Krebbs (1987–), illegitimate son of Bobby and Jenna, adopted by Ray

Family branches

Southworth family Although the generations of the Ewing family beyond Jock and Jason have not been referred to in the series beyond a fleeting reference to their father, Leander, Miss Ellie's family - the Southworths - is somewhat more explored.

Enoch Southworth founded Southfork Ranch in 1858. Following Enoch's death in 1901, his sole child, a son Aaron, born in the 1870s, had Southfork Ranch signed over to him and carried on his father's legacy. Aaron and his wife Barbara had two children: son Garrison and daughter Eleanor, who eventually became known as Miss Ellie. Miss Ellie was the sweetheart of Willard "Digger" Barnes in the first half of the Great Depression. In 1936, Miss Ellie married Jock Ewing, who helped Aaron save Southfork Ranch from bankruptcy. Aaron died in 1959, and Garrison in 1979. Garrison dated and later married Cherie Simmons (in the television movie The Early Years), but it is unknown if the couple had any children.

Family tree

Ewing Oil

Ewing Oil is a fictional oil company from the television series Dallas.

Jock Ewing founded Ewing Oil in 1930 and ran it until 1977, when he retired as President.

Several years prior to the debut of Dallas, J.R. Ewing had returned home to Southfork after serving in Vietnam and became vice-president of Ewing Oil.

When Jock retired, J.R. became President of Ewing Oil. Bobby Ewing returned to Dallas and joined the executive management team. J.R. resented his presence and wanted him out of the way. Things came to a head at the end of 1978, when Bobby resigned from Ewing Oil and started up Ewing Construction.

When Cliff Barnes, the son of Jock's rival Digger Barnes, became Commissioner of the Office of Land Management, he used his position to declare war on the Ewings and Ewing Oil. He halted the new drilling sites of Ewing Oil and began shutting down the oil fields. J.R. quickly had to find a new source of income. J.R. invested $200,000,000 in offshore leases in Asia and remortgaged Southfork Ranch to do this. The wells came in as one of the biggest oil strikes in the world, making the Ewing family even wealthier.

However, Jock was so upset over J.R.'s remortgaging of Southfork Ranch that Bobby stepped in to help run Ewing Oil. J.R. had gotten word that problems were escalating in Asia so he decided to sell 75% of the Asian leases to members of the Cartel (a small group of independent oil companies who work together for mutual benefit) - Seth Stone, Jordan Lee, Wade Luce and Andy Bradley - as well as banker Vaughn Leland, all bought shares. The next day there was a political revolt in Asia and the wells were nationalized. The investors lost everything, sending them all near bankruptcy, though J.R. had minimized his losses by selling most of his shares. Seth Stone could not bear to tell his wife Marilee that he had nearly bankrupted her father's company, and killed himself. Jock and Bobby believed that J.R. knew the wells were going to be nationalized, and that the Cartel had been double crossed, but J.R. denied that he knew anything prior to the nationalization.

Bobby decided to leave Dallas after Jock supported J.R. shutting down a Ewing field to prevent Cliff Barnes from gaining any profit from the field (Cliff discovered a document that proved his father owned half of the field). One night in the spring of 1980, J.R. was shot at the Ewing offices. Among the suspects were the various Cartel members whom J.R. had swindled, Cliff Barnes, and J.R's wife, Sue Ellen, although it turned out to be Sue Ellen's sister, former Ewing Oil secretary Kristin Shepard, who had done it. While J.R. was in surgery, Bobby was made president of Ewing Oil.

Bobby moved very fast and was eager to prove he was smarter and better than J.R. at running Ewing Oil, but encountered numerous obstacles in the business community. Bobby made several business decisions including changing banks and selling Ewing assets to buy a refinery, all while not consulting Jock or J.R. about any deals. Jock and J.R. became very close during this time and Jock regretted that he ever made Bobby president of Ewing Oil.

Bobby committed Ewing Oil to a deal with the Cartel, the first business Ewing Oil had done with them since the Asian deal and it was important for the relationship to continue. But unbeknown to Bobby, Jock had taken $12,000,000 out of the Ewing Oil account to go into a business deal with Punk Anderson. Bobby eventually pulled the deal off via a loan but had a terrible fight with Jock and decided to quit Ewing Oil, and later became a state senator.

Jock reinstated J.R. as president and his first move was to improve both his and Ewing Oil's public image, so he hired public relations specialist Leslie Stewart. J.R. secretly financed the overthrow of the new government that nationalized the Asian wells and the country's new rulers returned the oil wells to their Texas owners. The Cartel and Jock were thrilled but Cliff Barnes uncovered J.R.'s plot and tried to have him prosecuted but failed.

After his wife Sue Ellen left Southfork and moved in with Dusty Farlow at Southern Cross Ranch in San Angelo, J.R. began stock-piling all of the oil that went to Farlow Refineries as a way to force Sue Ellen to come back to him with their son, John Ross. This put a great strain on the Ewing finances as the price of oil dropped and J.R. was stuck with a load of oil he couldn't get rid of.

In 1982, Jock was killed in a helicopter crash in South America. Just prior to this, as an interim measure in his absence, Jock gave his family the power to control the company with voting shares which were divided as follows: Miss Ellie Ewing (30%) J.R. Ewing (20%) Bobby Ewing (20%) John Ross Ewing III (10%) (Ellie voted them if he was living off of Southfork, J.R. if he was living on Southfork) Gary Ewing (10%) (which he gave to Lucy) Ray Krebbs (10%)

J.R.'s plan to ruin the Farlows was stopped when Miss Ellie stepped in and made a deal with Clayton Farlow. Furious at J.R., she persuaded the family to vote with her to have him removed as president but changed her mind when J.R. pointed out nobody else could run Ewing Oil alone. However, when Miss Ellie later learned that J.R. had used Ewing Oil to ruin Cliff Barnes (resulting in his attempted suicide), the family voted unanimously to remove J.R. as president and Bobby took over again.

Some months later, Jock Ewing's will was finally read which stated that Ewing Oil would be split 50-50 between J.R. and Bobby and would run half each as a separate company for a period of one year. At the end of the year, the brother with the greatest profit would inherit 51% of the company and the loser would get 19%. The remainder would go to Miss Ellie, Ray and Gary who would inherit 10% each. Bobby's route was to drill in frozen ground in Canada using a new, experimental Tundra Torque drill bit. J.R.'s route was to over-pump oil with a special variance from the OLM (which he obtained through blackmail), refine it and open a chain of cut-price gas stations.

The battle for Ewing Oil tore the family apart. Bobby and Pam divorced; and Cliff and Pamela's mother, Rebecca Wentworth, died in a plane crash in an attempt to stop J.R. from winning. In the fall of 1983, J.R. and Bobby decided to call the battle off and divide their shares equally regardless of who won the contest. When it initially appeared that J.R. was the winner, he was about to double-cross Bobby and take control of Ewing Oil, but at the last moment Bobby won the contest when his Canadian project struck oil. Bobby kept his word and allowed J.R. to have an equal share in the company and the brothers would run the company side by side. Ownership of Ewing Oil was now as follows:

J.R.: 35% Bobby: 35% Lucy: 10% Miss Ellie: 10% Ray: 10%

In 1984, Bobby was shot at the office by Katherine Wentworth, Pam's half-sister who was in love with him. During his recovery, Donna Krebbs stepped into his place, much to the annoyance of J.R.

Jamie Ewing, Jock's niece, turned up at Southfork Ranch from Alaska, where she had been working in the oil business. Her father Jason, Jock's brother, had died and Jamie had a document which proved that Ewing Oil was in fact owned by Jock, Digger Barnes and Jason. Jamie married Cliff Barnes and they sided to take the Ewings to court for their rightful shares in Ewing Oil. The case went to court and the Ewings had a fight on their hands to keep control. Jamie's brother, Jack, came to Dallas and went to J.R. and Bobby to reveal that he had proof that Ewing Oil was owned outright by Jock Ewing. But there was a price for this information, Jack wanted 10% of Ewing Oil. The Ewing family agreed and Jack took Ray, Bobby and J.R. to meet a man called Wally Wyndham. He had witnessed the dissolving of the partnership and revealed that the document was with Jock's first wife, Amanda Ewing. The family met with Amanda, retrieved the document and won the battle for control. The company was now owned as follows:

J.R.: 30% Bobby: 30% Lucy:10% Miss Ellie:10% Ray:10% Jack: 10%