Grimshaw Lake, Inyo County, California

Named for Edwin Lewis Grimshaw

Ed and Minnie (Bacon) McQueary Grimshaw

Source: Ancestry.com

Home Page

Grimshaw Lake is located in Inyo County, California near the small community of Tecopa in the Mojave desert. The lake is named after Edwin Lewis Grimshaw, who created the lake by building a dam on a hot-spring-fed stream flowing out of the Tecopa Mountains. Edwin married Minnie (Bacon) McQueary, who had previously been married (to Frank A McQueary) and had several children. They were apparently married in Los Angeles in 1936, and by 1944 the couple had moved to Tecopa, where Ed leased a trading post and bar. Ed was an avid duck hunter and created the lake to attract ducks to the area for hunting. Ed and Minnie lived out their lives in Tecopa and are buried in the cemetery of that community. They apparently had no children.

Edwin Grimshaw's ancestry has been traced back to Jonathan and Eliza (Topham) Grimshaw, who immigrated to the U.S. as Mormons from Lancashire to Salt Lake City (see companion webpage). However, Jonathan lost his faith in Mormonism and left Utah to return to England, but only made it as far as Missouri, where he and Eliza lived out their lives in Jefferson City and are buried there. Edwin was the grandson of Jonathan and Eliza Grimshaw; his parents were Jonathan Topham and Nannie (Major) Grimshaw. Ed Grimshaw's ancestry has been traced nine generations back to the early line of Edward and Dorothy (Raner) Grimshaw in Yorkshire (see companion webpage).

Contents:

Webpage Credits

Grimshaw Lake in Desert Setting

Ed Grimshaw Information, Including Creation of Grimshaw Lake (or Marsh)

Photos of Ed and Minnie (Bacon) McQueary Grimshaw - and Tecopa Trading Post

Maps and GoogleEarth Images of Grimshaw Lake

Edwin Grimshaw's Ancestry

Final Resting Places of Edwin and Minnie ("Sandy") Grimshaw

Additional Grimshaw Lake Photos

References

Thanks go to George Murphy for providing much of the information on this webpage, including identification of Edwin Grimshaw as the person who created the lake and for whom it is named.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management has posted an excellent picture, shown below, of Grimshaw Lake with its desert and mountain setting. Grimshaw Lake is in the foreground of the photo. 

Source: http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/prog/blm_special_areas/wallpaper.print.html 

A pamphlet entitled "Remembering the Early Shoshone and Tecopa Area¹" includes a a brief description of Ed Grimshaw and the origins of Grimshaw Lake; the description is excerpted below (p. 243).

On page 231 of the same pamphlet, a group photo showing Ed Grimshaw and his stepson, Frank McQueary, is presented. A portion of the picture showing Ed and Frank (#7 & #6) is shown below with part of the photo caption.

The photo of Ed and Minnie shown below is from Ancestry.com courtesy of George Murphy.

The following photo of the Tecopa Trading Post is from the same source.

The photo below, also from the same source, is the second Tecopa Trading Post, which was built in late 1949 or early 1950 by Ed Grimshaw after the first one burned down.

The maps below show the location of Grimshaw Lake in relation to the Tecopa Mountains and the community of Tecopa as well as Tecopa Hot Springs. The lake name is erroneously shown as "Grimsham Lake". The lake was formed by damming a small stream where it flows across the "Old RR Grade". The maps show a hot spring near the head of the stream, at the south end of the Tecopa Mountains. The road running north-south on the east side of the lake is California Highway 127.

Grimshaw Lake as it appears on a GoogleEarth image is shown below.

The lake as it appears in relation to Tecopa on GoogleEarth is shown below.

Edwin was descended from Jonathan and Eliza (Topham) Grimshaw; an abbreviated descendant chart showing Ed as their grandson is shown in the chart below. The second chart shows the connection back to the Edward and Dorothy (Raner) Grimshaw line in Yorkshire. Edwin is a 9th generation descendant of Edward and Dorothy Grimshaw.

William Grimshaw & Theodosia unknown

|---Jonathan Grimshaw (20 Jul 1783 - 6 Nov 1844) & Sarah Pickersgill (2 Mar 1781 - )

|---|---John Grimshaw (9 Dec 1808 - 14 Feb 1849)

|---|---David Grimshaw (11 Apr 1811 - )

|---|---Theodosia Grimshaw (3 Jan 1814 - )

|---|---Sarah Grimshaw (31 Dec 1815 - )

|---|---Jonathan Grimshaw (24 Jan 1818 - 31 Aug 1897) & Eliza Maria Topham (2 May 1818 - 6 Feb 1876)

|---|---|---Elizabeth Grimshaw (23 Apr 1842 - ) & George Ludwig Faulhaber (6 Apr 1838 - )

|---|---|---Emma Grimshaw (24 Aug 1843 - ) & John Peter Fromme Jr. (22 Oct 1840 - 11 Mar 1877)

|---|---|---Jane Eliza Grimshaw (31 Jan 1845 - Circa 10 Sep 1845)

|---|---|---Eliza Lovesey Grimshaw (31 Jan 1845 - )

|---|---|---Maria Grimshaw (25 Jan 1847 - ) & Benton Hart (or Howard) Ingram (24 Nov 1838 - )

|---|---|---Caroline Grimshaw (4 Jan 1848 - )

|---|---|---Arthur Pickersgill Grimshaw (20 Jan 1849 - 25 Apr 1914) & Julia E Carter (14 Nov 1850 - 17 Jan 1926). Married 20 Sep 1870, Logan Co., Ohio

|---|---|---Fanny Cummings Grimshaw (21 Sep 1850 - )

|---|---|---Jonathan Topham Grimshaw (28 Nov 1852 - ) & Nannie G Major (14 Sep 1856 - )

|---|---|---|---Thomas Topham Grimshaw (12 Apr 1879 - )

|---|---|---|---Lelia Fannie Grimshaw (15 Nov 1880 - )

|---|---|---|---Guy Vivion Grimshaw (16 Mar 1889 - )

|---|---|---|---Edwin Lewis Grimshaw (18 May 1892/93 - 24 Apr 1969) & Minnie (Bacon) McQueary (1884-1964). Married 1936.

|---|---|---Sarah Lovesey Annette Grimshaw (22 Nov 1855 - 15 Jul 1904) & Herman J Rodman

|---|---Josiah Grimshaw (10 Dec 1819 - 13 Aug 1870)

|---|---Elizabeth Grimshaw (12 Dec 1822 - )

Edwin is descended the Yorkshire line of Grimshaws, with Edward and Dorothy (Raner) Grimshaw as progenitors. This line is presented in brief form below and is described in considerable detail in a companion webpage. 

Edward Grimshaw (About 1559 - 22 Jun 1635) & Dorotye Raner

|--Abraham Grimshaw (1603 - 1670) & Sarah ( - 21 Sep 1695)

|--|--Jeremy\Jeremiah Grimshaw* (21 Jul 1653 - 12 Aug 1721) & Mary Stockton ( - 6 Jan 1692/1693)

|--|--|--Joshua Grimshaw (12 Apr 1687 - 8 Jan 1764) & Jane Oddy (1686 - 1771)

|--|--|--|--John Grimshaw (5 Dec 1723 - ) & Hannah Fieldhouse

|--|--|--|--|--John Grimshaw (20 Jan 1760 - )

|--|--|--|--|--Mary Grimshaw (27 Sep 1761 - 5 Jul 1784)

|--|--|--|--|--William Grimshaw* (1764 - 5 Sep 1829) & Ann Grainger (1768 - 1805)

|--|--|--|--|--|--Jonathan Grimshaw (20 Jul 1784 - ) & Sarah Pickersgill

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--John Grimshaw (9 Dec 1808 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--David Grimshaw (11 Apr 1811 - ) & Mary Atkinson (About 1811 - 19 Apr 1889)

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--|--John Atkinson Grimshaw (6 Sep 1836 - 31 Oct 1893) & Francis Theodosia Hubbarde

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--Theodosia Grimshaw (3 Jul 1814 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--Sarah Grimshaw (31 Dec 1815 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--Jonathan Grimshaw (24 Jan 1818 - ) & Eliza Topham

|--|--|--|--|--|--|--Josiah Grimshaw (9 Dec 1819 - 14 Aug 1870) & Sarah Clark (About 1825 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--Hannah Grimshaw (8 Apr 1786 - ) & Joseph Marshall

|--|--|--|--|--|--John Grimshaw (1789 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--Samuel Grimshaw (1796 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--Abraham Grimshaw (2 Nov 1797 - 1 May 1874) & Mercy Halliday (4 Jun 1809 - 15 Dec 1877)

|--|--|--|--|--|--Ruth Grimshaw (1799 - )

|--|--|--|--|--|--Ruth Grimshaw (3 Mar 1802 - ) & Joseph Clapham

|--|--|--|--|--|--Benjamin Grimshaw (30 Oct 1803 - ) & Nanny Roundhill

|--|--|--|--|--William Grimshaw* (1764 - 5 Sep 1829) & Sarah

|--|--|--|--Jeremiah Grimshaw (30 May 1721 - )

|--|--Jeremy\Jeremiah Grimshaw* (21 Jul 1653 - 12 Aug 1721) & Sarah Overend ( - 16 May 1699)

|--|--Jeremy\Jeremiah Grimshaw* (21 Jul 1653 - 12 Aug 1721) & Rebecca Jowett ( - 12 Dec 1736)

Ed and Minnie Grimshaw lived out their lives in Tecopa and are buried in the community cemetery there. Their graves and photos of the cemetery are shown below.

Source for the two photos above: http://www.findagrave.com/

Source for the photo above: http://newcosoheritagesocietyinc.org/tecopa_cemetery.aspx

"Jennifer F" has posted several excellent photos on Gather.com. They are shown below with her informative annotations.

Source: http://travel.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977354163

"On the road into Tecopa Hot Springs, you pass the beautiful Grimshaw Lake Natural Area."

"Fantastic mud hills that rise up into fun shapes extend as far as the eye can see."

"Located at an elevation of 1,325 feet, this area is somewhat cooler than Bad Water in Death Valley National Park, which is at 282 below Sea Level is one of the hottest places on earth.  The Grimshaw Mud Flats look very similar to the Bad Water area."

"Because of all the marsh grasses, the springs at Grimshaw Lake are even prettier than the puddle at Bad Water."

"A sign warns of how fragile this kind of ecosystem is."

"My daughter carefully made her way down to the stream though.  We just had to know if the water was a hot spring or cold water. This water was refreshingly cool."

"Desert oasis, like this one here, are critical to the survival of all the desert's wildlife.  The name "Tecopa" means Wild Cat in the Paiute language.  Paiutes are the native people of the eastern part of California and they still reside in Death Valley National Park on a reservation next to the Furnace Creek Ranch."

"While we did not see any big wild cat prints here at this stream, we have seen many at nearbyAsh Meadows Wildlife Reserve: another fantastic place to explore in the vicinity of Death Valley National Park and the Las Vegas region."

"The wetlands that cover this area are critical to birds' migration through the dry Southwest.  These wetlands were also instrumental in allowing people to migrate West.  Tecopa Hot Springs sits on the Old Spanish Trial.  Thousands of years before that, it was a major trading route for the Native populations.  Until the early 1930s, a large Native population, named the Yaga, lived here."

¹Lengner, K.E., and G. Ross, 2004, Remembering the Early Shoshone and Tecopa area (Southeastern Death Valley region): Shoshone, CA?, 90 pp.

Home Page

Webpage posted April 2002. Banner replaced April 2011. Updated March 2012 with information on Ed Grimshaw, who built the dam that created the lake, based primarily on information provided by George Murphy.