So I am doing family history 'research' and I happen upon this guy

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/ig...

Franklin Delano Butler.

Since he was born in the 40s, you'd think he was named after the Greatest President Ever.

But no, this guy was born in the 1840s, so he seems to foreshadow that future President. Roosevelt was given the middle name Delano, of course, in honor of his mother Sara Delano. But why was Mr. FDB given that middle name? It is hardly a common middle name, nor is there any Delano is his family tree within four generations that I can determine.

One possibility, of course, is that the source of this name just made it up. The 1850 census just calls him Frank Butler. I have no primary record that names him Franklin Delano. The name comes from a history of the Butler family written in 1944 so the author of that family history may have seen a boy named Franklin and christened him with the middle name Delano just to be funny or as a tribute of sorts.

Even that would be oddly close to foreshadowing because the book was written in 1944.

Franklin Delano Butler's birthdate - 13 April 1846
Franklin Dealno Roosevelt's death - 12 April 1945

Coincidence?

I think not.

And on that last line we can perhaps all agree.