Praying for Oregon Counties: Yamhill

Yamhill County, Oregon

They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat of their fruit…And my elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. Isaiah 65: 21, 22

 While all the counties of Oregon are interesting and unique, Yamhill is one of the more fascinating. One of the oldest counties in Oregon, it is heavy with history. The original Yamhill District was one of the four original districts created by the Provisional Legislature in 1843. The other three were Twality (Washington), Clackamas, and Champooick (Marion), and, of course, all were huge. Yamhill originally was 12,000 square miles and encompassed the area from the Willamette River to the coast and from the Columbia River to the California border.

 

Now it is an area in the heart of the Willamette Valley of about 718 square miles with Tillamook County to the west, Polk to the south, Washington to the north, and Clackamas and Marion to the east. In 1847 the town of Lafayette, which was a one of the biggest and most bustling of Oregon’s new settlements, a main trading center, was the county seat, but in 1889 the seat was moved to McMinnville and has remained there. Back when the railroads were being built, the leaders in McMinnville had the foresight to encourage the trains to run to their town, but Lafayette somehow dropped the ball, leaving the railroads - and therefore the growth - to McMinnville. It is now the population center of Yamhill County.

 

Yamhill County is wine country, having the most area of any Oregon county planted in vineyards. Other economic sources are forest products, manufacturing and education. Colleges include Linfield University, Chemeketa Community College, Portland Community College and George Fox University.

 

Yamhill County had non-native settlers as early as 1814 as the fur traders and mountain men camped there. In the 1830’s the explorer and fur trader, Ewing Young, took up a large homestead and became one of Yamhill County’s (and Oregon’s) earliest and most influential settlers. 

 

In 1852 a man named Robert Booth came to Oregon with his family and settled in Yamhill County. On the trip along the Oregon Trail he nearly died of cholera. He promised his wife he would preach the gospel in Oregon if he survived. In 1855 he joined the Methodist Episcopal church and became a circuit rider, or itinerant preacher. In 1924 his son, Robert A. Booth, commissioned a statue of a circuit rider to be placed on the lawn of the state capital in Salem in honor of his father and his fellow circuit riders. 

Circuit Rider, Oregon State Capital

The story of the Methodist (and other denominations) circuit riders in Oregon is a fascinating topic and we hope to cover it more in-depth in the near future.

 

Yamhill County has three county commissioners. Currently they are Mary Starrett, chair; Lindsay Berschauer, vice-chair; and Casey Kulia.

 

How do we pray for Yamhill County?

 

There He makes the hungry dwell, that they many establish a city for a dwelling place, and sow fields and plant vineyards, that they many yield a fruitful harvest. Psalm 107: 36-37

 

Pray for wisdom for the commissioners and others in charge of county government.

Pray for continued peace and prosperity. 

Pray for the colleges in Yamhill County, and their influence over students.

Margaret