Why does John Cinnamon believe he's John Grey's son in Outlander?

We meet John Cinnamon in Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, although he is mentioned in An Echo in the Bone. However, he has a story from before the main Outlander books.

Cinnamon originally appears in one of the Lord John Grey stories, and it’s this book that explains all. After all, when we meet Cinnamon, he’s convinced that Lord John Grey is his father. It turns out that John isn’t, but he does know who is.

Cinnamon’s father is Malcolm Stubbs, John’s cousin-in-law. Why would he believe that Lord John Grey is his father?

John Cinnamon grew up in a Catholic orphanage in Outlander

Before we meet Cinnamon, we learn that he has a head of hair that is the color of cinnamon bark. It’s clear once we find out his story that his hair color is where he gets his name. That’s all we really know about him, though.

Cinnamon explains to William that he was raised in a Catholic orphanage. He believes that since Lord John Grey dropped him off there that John must be his father. He also knows that his mother died when he was just an infant.

Well, it turns out that the priest who took Cinnamon in believed that Lord John Grey was his father. John didn’t have the energy at the time to set the record straight, and so, Cinnamon was raised with the belief that John was his father. He didn’t want anything from his dad except to meet him. He wasn’t angry at being placed in the care of the Catholic Church. He actually had a heart of gold.

Lord John Grey paid for John Cinnamon in the books

We learn in Lord John and the Custom of the Army that Cinnamon was the product of an affair between Malcolm Stubbs and an Indian woman in Quebec. John is angry that his cousin-in-law would have an affair, and Malcolm breaks down not knowing what to do. On top of that, Malcolm loses a leg in a battle and is sent back to England.

Lord John Grey can’t see this infant suffer, especially when he learns that the boy’s mother died of smallpox. The boy’s grandmother can’t raise him and she sells him to John.

Not only does John buy the boy from his grandmother, but he then pays for everything that John Cinnamon needs. Each year, he sends the priest £5 in return for a lock of hair and a progress report. It’s easy to see how assumptions are made. John looks like a father who wants to do the right thing by his boy; a father who can’t be emotionally there for him but will financially support him.

This is just who John is, though. We’ve seen him do right by people. He raised William as his own, and he has always looked out for his cousin and his niece and nephews. Of course he was going to look out for this boy, who was the child of a friend and family member.