Ruxton

This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational name either from Ruxton, north west of Ross in Herefordshire, or from Roxton near Caistor in Lincolnshire. The latter place, recorded as "Roxton" in the 1212 Feet of Fines for that county, has as its first element the Olde English pre 7th Century personal byname "Hroc", from "hroc", rook, originally given to one with very dark hair, and "tun", enclosure, settlement. The Herefordshire place is believed to share the same meaning and derivation. Locational surnames, such as this, were originally given to local landowners, and the lord of the manor, and especially as a means of identification to those who left their birthplace to settle elsewhere. On June 8th 1573, Emote Ruxton and John Rogers were married in Swinderby, Lincolnshire. A Coat of Arms granted to the Ruxton family of Broad Oak, Kent, descended from the Ruxtons of Ardee House, Co. Louth, is a silver shield with a crescent between three bulls' heads erased sable, armed gold. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Roxton, which was dated April 13th 1562, marriage to Agnes Hall, at Brocklesby, Lincolnshire, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.