Grimshaw of Hinds County, MI and Then Caldwell Parish, LA

(Note: Webpage in preparation)

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George Grimshaw was apparently born between 1790 and 1800 in Great Britain. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1817 –- the port of his entry has not yet been determined. George married first Mariah McMahon, and they had a son, George Jr., who was born in 1824. Then George and Rachel Graves were married on June 29, 1826 in Hinds County, Mississippi. George was naturalized as a U.S. citizen in that county in 1829. After several children were born in Mississippi, the family moved to Caldwell Parish, Louisiana, where they bought Waverly Plantation on the Ouachita River on November 25, 1836. The 1840 Census of Caldwell Parish indicated that George and Rachel’s family consisted of four boys and three girls. Waverly Plantation was sold by the estate of George Grimshaw on May 17, 1845, so he died between 1840 and 1845, at the age of approximately 45 to 50 years.

One of George and Rachel's daughters, Lavinia, married John Bates, and they apparently had their family and lived in Marlin, Falls County, Texas, where they are buried. 

Webpage Credits

Information from Robin Crum, April 2003

Preliminary Descendant Chart for George Grimshaw

Record of George Grimshaw at Waverly Plantation, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana

Where Was Waverly Plantation Located?

Naturalization Record for George Grimshaw

1840 Census Records and Interpretations

1850 Census Records and Interpretations

1860 Census Records and Interpretations

1870 Census Records and Interpretations

1880 Census Records and Interpretations

Land Acquisition Records in Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana

Materials from Visit to Louisiana State Library, November 3, 2005

Information from Murph Sewall, March 2005

Information from Murph Sewall, June 2006

References

Thanks go to Robin Crum and Murph Sewall for providing much of the information on this webpage.

The children of George and Rachel Grimshaw were 1) Sidney, born in 1827 in Mississippi and died April 9, 1854 in Caldwell Parish, LA; 2) Elizabeth L., born in 1830 in Mississippi and died after 1894 in Texas; 3) Gideon F., born in 1835 in Mississippi and died before 1858 in Caldwell Parish, LA; 4) Lavinia, born December 7, 1837 in Mississippi and died September 2, 1893 in Falls County, TX; 5) Charles Brace, born 1840 in Mississippi and died 1877, probably in Catahoula Parish, LA; and 6) Francis Jane, born in 1833. Sidney never married. 

Elizabeth married Zachariah N. Hanna and apparently lived in Bexar County, Texas. Gideon F. Grimshaw married Mary Coker on December 20, 1855 in Caldwell Parish, LA. Lavinia married John Bates, probably in Jackson Parish, LA. Charles Brace Grimshaw married first Sally Sherrard in Jackson Parish and had two children -- M.C. (female) and R.G. (male). After a divorce, Charles married Minerva Angeline McClendon on December 17, 1868 in Catahoula Parish; this couple had two children - Walter Eugene, born June 21, 1870 and Alice Madura, born January 8, 1875. Francis Jane married Joel Rathbun or Rathburn. The children were George Jr., Cora, James Cavalier, Mary, and Charles.

George had two other "Grimshaws" -- Watt (wife Arminda) and George (wife Jane) -- who were his slaves. It is not known whether the slaves were acquired when George was married to Mariah or Rachel.

George Grimshaw* (ca 1795 - bef 17 May 1845) & Mariah McMahon

|---George Grimshaw  (ca 1824 - ?)

George Grimshaw* (ca 1795 - ?) & Rachel Graves

|---Sidney S Grimshaw (1827, MI - ?)

|---Elizabeth L Grimshaw (1830, MI - aft 1894, Texas) & Zachariah N Hanna

|---Gideon F Grimshaw (1835, M* - bef 1878, Caldwell Parish, LA) & Mary L Coker. Married 20 Dec 1855, Caldwell Parish, LA

|---Lavinia W Grimshaw (7 Dec 1837, MI - 2 Sep 1892, Falls Co, TX) & John L. Bates (18 Oct 1816, Abbeville, SC - 1 May 1879, Marlin, TX). Married Jackson Parish, LA

|---|---Ethel Bates (4 Oct 1853, LA - 7 Oct 1853)

|---|---Ella Bates (4 Oct 1853, LA - 1856)

|---|---Emma Bates (4 Oct 1853, LA - 11 Mar 1927)

|---|---Frances Ann Bates* (17 Apr 1855, Lockwood Parish, LA - 15 May 1895, Marlin, TX) & Unknown Parker

|---|---Frances Ann Bates* (17 Apr 1855, Lockwood Parish, LA - 15 May 1895, Marlin, TX) & Krouse Sewall. Married 31 Oct 1876.

|---|---|---Frank Bates Sewall (19 Jan 1881 - 5 Jun 1921)

|---|---|---Sarah Elizabeth Sewall (24 Jan 1884 - 1971)

|---|---|---Fannie Lavinia [Frances Ann] Sewall (10 Mar 1892 - 4 Dec 1982)

|---|---John Leonard Bates (30 Mar 1861, LA - 29 Jun 1910)

|---Charles Brace Grimshaw* (1840, MI - 1877, Catahoula Parish, LA) & Sally Sherrard. Married Jackson Parish, LA.

|---|---Mary C Grimshaw (female) & Joseph L Blanks. Married 6 Oct 1859, Caldwell Parish, LA.

|---|---R George Grimshaw (male) & Emma Stewart. Married 5 Mar 1870, Caldwell Parish, LA.

|---Charles Brace Grimshaw* (1840, MI - 1877, Catahoula Parish, LA) & Minerva Angeline McClendon. Married 17 Dec 1868, Catahoula Parish.

|---|---Walter Eugene Grimshaw (21 Jun 1870 - ?)

|---|---Alice Madura Grimshaw (8 Jan 1875 - ?)

|---Francis Jane Grimshaw (1843 - ?) & Joel Rathbun or Rathburn

|---|---George Rathbun

|---|---Cora Rathbun

|---|---Mary Rathbun

|---|---Charles Rathbun

 

Slaves of George Grimshaw

Watt Grimshaw (ca 1802, KY - ?) & Arminda McCra (ca 1829, SC - ?). Married 7 Sep 1867.

|---George (ca 1847-50 - ?) & Jane Henderson (ca 1856 - ?). Married 12 Jan 1876.

|---Emma (ca 1854 - ?)

|---Jefferson (ca 1854 - ?)

|---Abner M (ca 1872 - ?)

Book¹ by H Ted Woods, p. 142-144:

In the northern section of Caldwell and lying on the east bank of the beautiful Ouachita River, is what is called Waverly Plantation, consisting of approximately 1,000 acres of level land, sloping slightly away from the river and draining into Lafourche.

History of this big plantation is really a history of Caldwell Parish, beginning in 1815 when it was originally settled and named Waverly Plantation. At that time it consisted of 476.12 acres of land, adjoining a tract of land on the lower side confirmed to Jacques Chale, later owned by heirs of Hipolite Ferrand, and bounded above, back and east by land formerly owned by estate of J. F. Simmons and later owned by the Hopewell Planting Co., and being the tract of land confirmed to John Pierre Landerneau, Sr., and also 430.96 acres of land being first confirmed to John Pierre Landerneau, Jr., both of said tracts forming Waverly Plantation, which contained at that time, in the aggregate of 906.78 acres.

After the death of John Pierre Landerneau, Sr., his widow, Marie Sagers, married Jean Baptiste Bres, and according to records, on November 25, 1836, they sold to George Grimshaw approximately 800 arpents (except one-half acre to embrace a burying ground therein "excepted and not to be sold"), which was bounded by lands to the north claimed by Timothy Flint, and below by lands of Hipolite Ferrand, being the whole of the same lands that were confirmed to Jean Pierre Landerneau, Sr., as per commissioners certificate and by special act of congress approved March 30, 1830. The deed was recorded in Ouachita Parish, and the consideration was for $75,000.00.

On May 17, 1845, estate of George Grimshaw sold to the Estate of John Bres the 800 arpents, with John Ray, Esq., acting for the latter for a consideration of $16,500. In November 1847, the land was partitioned, with Catherine Bres coming into possession of the upper half of the Landerneau survey and containing 400 arpents, more or less. John B. Bres took over the lower half of the same survey, containing approximately 400 arpents, with all the buildings and improvements thereon, for the consideration of $13,330. Said petition was signed by John B. Bres, Jr., Charles Bres, Catherine Ray and husband, John Ray, Benedette Morrison and husband, W. O. Morrison, and Marie Bres, tutrix to the minors Jerome and Paul Bres, sole heirs of John Bres, Sr. Notorial act was made before Wade H. Hough, Parish Recorder.

On January 4, 1858, John B. Bres and Mrs. Catherine Bres Ray sold to Mrs. Elizabeth Simmons Gilbert and Thomas P. Richardson ten arpents of land for the consideration of $20,000 and with the consideration that John Bres reserves in the sale, the family graveyard covering 70 square feet "so as to cover the family graves of the Bres family". The same consideration also covered another 10 arpents of land on the same plantation.

On August 24, 1870, Mrs. Elizabeth Gilbert, nee Simmons, sold her undivided half-interest to her tract of land to P. S. McLain and James N1. Bennett, Sr. for $13,000. The burying ground of the Bres family was still reserved. Mrs. F. A. Richardson, in the meantime, had acquired the half-interest to Waverly Plantation from T. P. Richardson through a writ of Fieri Facias issued out of the 12th Judicial District Court for the Parish of Caldwell, same being recorded March 20, 1868. After McLain's death, J. M. Bennett purchased from his heirs for $4,490 the McLain half-interest to the 906.12 acres, and this transaction was recorded on December 23, 1875. On June 9, 1917, Mrs. M. L. Bennett, widow of J. M. Bennett, Sr., sold to the Waverly Planting Co., of which J. M. Bennett, Jr., was president, her one-half interest to Waverly Plantation for the consideration of $7,500.

In November of 1024, the entire tract of land was sold at a sheriff's sale through foreclosure for the consideration of $10,000. A few days later, it went into the hands of Herbert C. Cole for the consideration of $25,979.91. In March, 1925, Cole sold one-half interest to Prentis M. Atkins for $12,989.85. In 1925, J. M. Bennett, Jr., a former owner, again came into possession of the land, but in December of the following year, sold it to Harry G. Miller of El Dorado, Ark., reserving 100 acres where the main house stood.

The Rowland Brothers - Fred, J. Mack and Leonard- purchased Waverly Plantation in 1939 and in 1950 they added forty acres a quarter of a mile east of the original grant and purchased 70 acres on the north boundary in the spring of 1955. The three brothers developed the farm into one of the best in the State, and leased about 160 acres at Riverton, about five miles from the farm headquarters, and an additional 175 acres east of the Ouachita River from Columbia. The main farm was selected in May, 1957, by a local committee of bankers and representatives of agricultural agencies for an annual Farm Clinic, because of the operators of the farm employ many of the advance production and marketing necessary in modern farming. Fred and Mack Rowland were associated in the active management of Waverly Plantation up to the time it was purchased by the brothers until Fred's death in September, 1966; Mack then assumed the entire responsibility of operating the holdings. In 1959, the two Rowland brothers were declared Master Farmers, and were awarded a plaque in 1960 for this proud achievement.

The soil types of this farm are of alluvial origin, most sandy loam with some mixed soils. The soils, which are fairly deep and highly permeable, have an inherently high fertility. At the time of the Farm Clinic the land use of the Rowland Farm was 342 acres of cotton, 72 acres of corn, 108 acres of soybeans, 153 acres of small grains, 530 acres in pasture land, 80 acres in woodlands, and 35 acres for farm stead, levees and waste lands.

The operators had adequate machinery for most of the farming activities, and equipment large enough for efficient performance of field operations, but like most operators in that section of the parish, found a bottleneck when it come to ginning their cotton. Finding it very inconvenient shuffling between a gin at Columbia and another one at Bosco, the Rowland brothers pooled their resources along with Mr. and Mrs. 0. N. Reynolds of Synope Plantation, the G. L. Shipp Estate and John J. McKeithen and Dr. A. E. McKeithen, and the group erected a modern gin on the Shipp place on Highway 165, along with a commissary nearby. This alleviated many of their worries, as well as other cotton farmers in the parish. This gin was completed and put in use in 1953.

While the Rowlands are not natives of Caldwell, coming here from Webster Parish, they adhered themselves to local community life, active in civic and church affairs. Mack Rowland was elected Police Jury member of Ward 1, where most of the farming interests are located, and served two terms as President of the Caldwell Parish governing body.

The brothers were domiciled in separate residencies on the farm, with the Mack Rowland family in the two story farm house which was erected by J. M. Bennett in 1924. They have two sons, Charlie Mack and Dennis, and a daughter, Sue. The Leonard Rowlands had two sons, Jimmy Ben and Roger. The Fred Rowlands had no children. The old original building which housed the activities of the farm in the old days, and the commissionary was located just north of the Mack Rowland home. The old building still stood until well after the Rowlands took over the plantation.

What happened to the old burial ground; no, one seems to know. From the beginning, and up to 1870, whenever the plantation sold, there was a limitation that one-half of an acre was reserved for the burying place for the Bres family. Jean Bres died in 1847. His wife and most of the members of his family are buried in the Catholic Cemetery in Monroe. A Negro cemetery was dug up and reburied elsewhere by the federal government and the spot became part of the right-of-way for the levee along the east side of the Ouachita River.

In the northern part of Caldwell Parish, between the Ouachita River (left) and Lafourche Bayou in center. 

From companion webpage on Grimshaw Immigrations:

27. George Grimshaw, 1829, Mississippi

    U.S. Work Projects Administration, Division of Community Service Programs, Old Law Naturalization Records Project, 1942

The record for George Grimshaw appears as follows in a table entitled "Completed Naturalizations Second District" in the reference:

Name	Proceeding	Date	Record	Volume	Page
Grimshaw, George	Order	4-15-29	Min Cir Ct	1	390

George Grimshaw's completed naturalization occurred on April 15, 1829 by order of the Min. Circuit Court of Hinds County, Mississippi. The record, in Volume 1, page 390 of the court records was documented as part of a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project in 1942.

The 15 Grimshaw entries (with two duplicates) are shown in the following table. Grimshaws were found in Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Massachussets.

The records for the 10 Grimshaws are summarized below with their respective images.

George Grimshaw, Caldwell Parish, Louisiana

George and his wife (between 40 and 50 and between 30 and 40, respectively) were living in a rather large household, with four other men and three other females. The men (and boys) were between 30 and 40, between 20 and 30, between 5 and 10 and less than five years old. The girls were between 10 and 14, between 5 and 10, and less than five years old.

Daniel Grimshaw, Hinds County, Mississippi

Daniel and his wife were between 30 and 40 and between 20 and 30, respectively. They had a son and a daughter, both between 10 and 15 years old.

Tabulation of Grimshaws in 1850 Census by Ancestry.com

As noted, a search for Grimshaws and Grinshaws in the head of household index on the Ancestry.com website produced a total of 62 entries. These are shown in the table below, which is sorted first by state and then by county within the state. The fourth column of the table ("Image") indicates whether a corresponding image was also obtained for the entry. Images that were obtained are included further down on this webpage.

November 3, 2005 speculation: S.S. is Sidney Grimshaw, age 23, and Francis is Sidney's younger sister, age 7. Lavinia, age 13, and Charles, 10, are living in Jackson Parish, which is not be far away. T.F. and L.S. must be Gideon F and Elizabeth L. Grimshaw, ages 15 and 20. All six are the children of George and Rachel Grimshaw.

Tabulation of Grimshaws in 1860 Census by Ancestry.com

Two Grimshaws (Thomas H and Henry) were found in a previous search of the 1860 Census and are shown below. Then the 293 Grimshaws found in the second search are listed, sorted first by state, then by county and then by age.

November 3, 2005 note: Charles Brace and Sarah P. (Coker) Grimshaw are living in Jackson Parish. The New Orleans Grimshaws are a different line, of James and Mary (Berthoud) Grimshaw (see companion webpage).

The on-line survey was accomplished for "Grimshaw" and "Grinshaw" and yielded 442 individuals located in 20 states. The tabulation of Grimshaws, shown below, has been sorted by age (in descending order) within individual city, town or ward.

Census Place:	2nd Ward, Caldwell, Louisiana					LA-1
Source:	FHL Film 1254450 National Archives Film T9-0450 Page 22A
	Relation	Sex	Marr	Race	Age	Birthplace
Walt GRIMSHAW	Self	M	M	B	84	KY
Occ:	Laborer	Fa: KY	Mo: VA
Arminda GRIMSHAW	Wife	F	M	B	40	SC
Occ:	Keeping House	Fa: SC	Mo: SC
Titia BROWN	GDau	F	S	B	17	LA
Occ:	Laborer