Re-Digging the Old Wells: Old Scotch Church

Source: M.O. Stevens at en.wikipedia, Public domain,
via Wikimedia Commons

And Isaac dug again the wells of water which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father… Genesis 26:18

 I came across the history of the Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church, or “Old Scotch Church,”  while doing research on Washington County.  Among the early settlers in the Tualatin Valley were those from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, many of whom had been members of the Free Church of Scotland back home, and who settled near one another in Oregon.  

 

The Free Church of Scotland was a group that broke off from the state-authorized Church of Scotland in 1843, objecting to the state’s interference in church affairs. 

 

The following, from the Old Scotch Church website, is a quote from minutes taken by the 

first minister, Rev. George Ross:

 

"Columbia Academy, Washington County, Oregon, 16th November, 1873. After a sermon this day by the Rev. A.L. Lindsley, D.D., Portland, Oregon, he along with two of his elders, Messrs. Holman and Wadhams, organized the Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church, consisting of twelve members. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dispensed. The congregation then proceeded to elect two elders, when Messrs. William Chalmers and James Smith were chosen to fill that office. It was found that Mr. Chalmers was an ordained elder, he having been chosen and set apart to that office a long time previous to his departure from Scotland. He was received and Mr. Smith ordained to the eldership of the Tualatin Plains Church. Closed with prayer."

 

The original twelve members were mostly immigrants from Aberdeenshire. Mr. Chalmers, for example, had been a tenant farmer at New Deer, Aberdeenshire, and a successful breeder of prizewinning shorthorn cattle and of Clydesdale horses, a business he continued in Oregon on his 1000-acre farm on the Tualatin Plains. When the Free Church of Scotland was formed, an event called “The Disruption” in Church of Scotland history, a congregation had been established at New Deer. Whether this is where Mr. Chalmers and his family attended and he was ordained an elder is unknown as there are no surviving records, but it seems likely. While many of the members were from the Free Church of Scotland (which is Presbyterian), the Tualatin Plains Presbyterian Church is associated with the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.

Old Scotch Church, Hillsboro, OR

Within a few years the congregation had purchased property, then proceeded to design and build a beautiful building on the property. The congregation grew, and the church remains, still using the same structure. The church building is on the National Register of Historic Places, and is one of the oldest continuously used churches in the state. It draws tourists, history buffs, and artists of all sorts. 

 

Pray for Old Scotch Church: For a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. 

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16 

Margaret