YOXALL of USA
The YOXALL surname has not been traced in USA on Census until 1850, when the family of George YOXALL & Nancy A. PATTERSON arrived, and settled, in New York. George was the son of Moses YOXALL & Elizabeth LEWIS. A second YOXALL family, John YOXALL & his spouse Elizabeth, are also first recorded on the 1850 Census, though parents for John or Elizabeth are not known. More of this later.
But it was the arrival of John YOXALL and his wife Elizabeth EATON, sometime between 1861 and 1870, that proved to be the founding of the YOXALL surname in the USA. Staying briefly in Wisconsin, they soon settled in Kansas. Their son George Eaton YOXALL rose to become Vice President of Stockton National Bank, Kansas and on his death his family were given a copy of a Resolution from House of Representatives of the State of Kansas in recognition of his services. The Kansas YOXALL is still the major USA YOXALL line and it is thanks to the efforts of a few USA YOXALL that I am able to help preserve their heritage.
At the moment I have to rely on USA researchers to provide original sources, such as BMDs etc, though I have compiled, and proven, 3 indexes to trace the arrival of YOXALL from the UK. If there are any keen researchers in the USA of the YOXALL surname I need your help to verify and build up USA YOXALL lines, please contact me.
1850-1940 USA Census
No YOXALL have been found on the USA Census prior to 1850, on either the 1820, 1830 or 1840 USA Census. Though details on USA Census are more extensive than UK Census, for simplicity I have chosen to mirror image the UK Census, so that the UK spreadsheet design can be used for USA Census and my UK spreadsheet notes apply to USA Census. Images of USA Census have also been saved and will be linked to each individual as with UK Census.
Perhaps the only puzzle on USA Census is on the 1870 Census, where there are two couples called John & Elizabeth YOXALL. One of them is clearly John YOXALL & Elizabeth EATON, living in Wisconsin with their children. But who are the John & Elizabeth YOXALL living in St Louis, Missouri? John was also born in England but whilst the ages of the two John YOXALL are 1816 & 1817, the ages of the two Elizabeth are 1807 & 1821, making it unlikely they are the same couple registered twice. John has also been traced with Elizabeth on the 1850 and 1860 USA Census, where Elizabeth is recorded as born in Virginia, not England as recorded in 1870. John appears in 1880 where he is recorded as a Widower, living with a family called GROTPETER. No children have been traced for John & Elizabeth. A Naturalisation Record has been found for a John YOXALL, 3 Aug 1840, Missouri, USA, which is surely for the same John YOXALL. Can you solve this mystery of John’s parents?
Ellis Island arrivals
Ellis Island opened in 1892 as a federal immigration station, a purpose it served for more than 60 years (it closed in 1954). Millions of newly arrived immigrants passed through the station during that time–in fact, it has been estimated that close to 40 percent of all current U.S. citizens can trace at least one of their ancestors to Ellis Island. The website for Ellis Island includes an extensive history for those wishing to know more about their ancestor experiences on arrival in the USA.
An index of all YOXALL arrivals at Ellis Island has been compiled, again in a simple spreadsheet format. This is an ongoing project, but to see progress so far see Ellis Island YOXALL arrivals. There is not a lot of information on Ellis Island records but they do help fill in more details of where our ancestors lived, whether they may have emigrated, a year of birth and even a spouse or child we were unaware of. So don’t ignore sources that seem, at first sight, not relevant or useful.
USA Social Security Death Index (SSDI)
The US Social Security Death Index is a name index to deaths recorded by the Social Security Administration beginning in 1962 and currently up to 28th February 2014.
There are a few death records on the US Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007. This database picks up where the SSDI leaves off, with details such as birth date and parents’ names extracted from information filed with the Social Security Administration through the application or claims process. Looking at YOXALL references, there are no YOXALL prior to 1962 and all the people recorded are on the SSDI. As I am not registered with Ancestry.com, I am unaware of any details different to the SSDI.
A measure of how sparse the YOXALL surname still is in the USA can be gauged by the fact there are only 60 YOXALL deaths recorded on the US Social Security Death Index from 1962 to 2014. My knowledge of USA YOXALL, is fairly good up to 1940, but there are a few later YOXALL deaths on the SSDI that I cannot link to a spouse or parents. Like my other indexes, these people are marked with either P for possible or N for no suggestion. So if anyone can help identify these few people it would be appreciated.