A Curse on Your Family?

A distant relation of mine, a great, great... uncle was John Dalton, the famous scientist. A family tradition in the past was to name the first born, if it was a boy, John Dalton and our surname. </p> <p>My grandfather's brother, first born, was called John Dalton xxxxxxx and died as a young child. My fathers brother, again the first born, was called John Dalton. He died in a car crash on his honeymoon. </p> <p>His surviving widow, later married my dad's other brother and their first born was a boy. He was given the names John Dalton and he sadly died in his first few years. </p> <p>I only learnt of this co-incidence as a teenager when my grandmother told me one day and said she had begged her son not to choose that name and she regretted naming her own son John Dalton. She believed there was more than a co-incidence in the three deaths of first born males in three generations of our family. I remember feeling a little chilled about this at first but quickly tried to reassure her there was no other reason than three unrelated tragic events and the names did not mean anything. </p> <p>Having said that, I'm glad my first name is Nick as I'm the first born male in my family and my middle name is Dalton!