Yoxall - Name

This most interesting surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name from "Yoxall", a parish and village near Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, which was recorded as "Iocheshale" in the Domesday Book of 1086 and "Yoxhal" in the Assize Court Rolls of Staffordshire in 1222. The placename is composed of the initial element "geoc", the Olde English word for "yoke of oxen, or a measure of land", and the Olde English "halh", usually meaning "a nook, recess or remote valley", in the South and Midlands, and elsewhere a "haugh, or spur of a hill". Locational surnames were developed when former inhabitants of a place moved to another area, usually to seek work, and were best identified by the name of their birthplace. Thomas Yoxall married Anne Curson at St. Matthew, in Walsall, Staffordshire on January 18th 1595, and one Edward Yoxall married Elizabeth Merrell on May 2nd, 1614 at St. Peter's, Wolverhampton. Abigail, daughter of John Yoxall was christened in January 1619 at St. Margaret's, Westminster, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Jonne Yokesoule, which was dated November 26th, 1547 marriage to Thomas Ludwell at St. Mary le Bow, London, during the reign of King Henry V111, "Good King Hal", 1558-1609. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.