Soitoux

Recorded in several spellings including it would seem Soiteur, Soitout, Soitoux, possibly Soixeaux and even Soutif, this is a surname of French origins. According to the "Dictionnaire Etymologique des noms de famille de France," the surname means a mower or reaper, and hence was probably job descriptive, although it may have been a nickname. It was apparently first recorded in the 15th century in the department of Franche-Comte, and was presumably applied to a farm contractor, one who hired out his services at harvest times, although he must have had other work for the rest of the year. Unfortunately French church registers, the mainstay of all accurate surname research after the Middle Ages, and nothing before that is truly accurate, were usually destroyed by the revolutionaries either during the famous French Revolution of 1792, or even the later one of 1848. When registers exist at all, they tend to be inaccurate, at least in spelling, although this comment applies to most countries. The registers for Franche-Compte have not thrown up any identifiable early recordings, but in the department of Haute-Saone we have the datewise appropriate recording of Pierre Soitout as spelt, who married Marie Renard at Gezier-et-Fontenlay, on January 20th 1792, the surname also being recorded at the same place and in the same spelling in 1812.