08/13/2026
Long before McMinnville had a downtown, schools, or railroads, pioneer families were building lives in the Yamhill Valley and laying loved ones to rest beneath its oak trees.
Among some of the earliest settlers were Madison and Virginia Malone, members of the 1843 wagon train that also brought the Newby and Cozine families to the area. After Virginia's death, Madison dedicated a small grove on his property as a cemetery, creating the first known burial ground between the North and South Yamhill Rivers. Today, Malone Cemetery remains a quiet reminder of the hardships, losses, and resilience of some of McMinnville's earliest settlers.
Another early pioneer, Thomas Jefferson Shadden, arrived in Oregon in 1842 before serving as a mounted rifleman during the Mexican-American War and later joining the California Gold Rush. Returning to his family in Oregon, Thomas and his wife Martha established their homestead along Baker Creek, building the Shadden House between 1856 and 1859.
For nearly eight decades, generations of the Shadden family called the house home. Like Malone Cemetery, the property serves as a tangible connection to the people who transformed the Yamhill Valley from a frontier settlement into a thriving community.
Together, these places remind us that McMinnville's story began not with buildings or businesses, but with people—families who endured uncertainty, celebrated milestones, mourned losses, and put down roots in the valley.
Today, Malone Cemetery sits quietly amid modern development (located immediately next door to Wilco), while the Shadden House still stands along Baker Creek Road, both bearing witness to the some of the earliest chapters of McMinnville's history.
Ready for some Throwback Thursday Trivia 🤷⁉
Which long-time family farm operates on the Shadden property today? Comment your answer below ⬇ - one winner will be selected at random to win a Mac150 lapel pin.
