This was the tradition in New England. Farmers would have big families, 10-12 kids. Oldest son would inherit the farm, the other sons had to find something else -- go west, go to sea, go to the city. The only way a daughter could stay in town was to marry someone else's oldest son.
There would be interesting discussions when the oldest son got to be in his late 20's and was ready to start a family and his dad was in his fifties and felt he still had a couple decades left running the farm. Plus his youngest kids were barely out of diapers.
My farm was owned by the same family from 1683 to 1950, passing only by inheritance, always to the oldest son. There was one owner who had daughters but no sons, when he passed it went to his brother's oldest son and the daughters got nothing.