The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 450
A portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Wayenberg appears in this publication.

HENRY WAYENBERG.

Holland made a valuable contribution to the citizenship of Yakima county by
sending many of her substantial residents to this section. Among those who can
claim to have had their birth in that interesting little kingdom, whose humanity
and level-headedness have been so strongly manifest during the recent world war,
is numbered Henry Wayenberg, whose birth there occurred on the 3d of March,
1858, his parents being Teunis and Grace (Van de Brake) Wayenberg. In the year
1867 the parents bade adieu to friends and native country and sailed for the new
world, taking up their abode in Wisconsin, where they resided until 1871 and
then went to Sioux county, Iowa. In the latter district the father took up a
homestead and developed and improved his claim, converting it into an excellent
farm property, whereon he resided until called to his final rest. Both he and
his wife passed away in 1898.

Henry Wayenberg acquired a public school education and afterward took up the
occupation of farming, to which he had been reared. At a subsequent period,
however, he engaged in the agricultural implement business, conducting a store
of that kind at Sioux Center, Iowa, for ten years. The favorable reports which
reached him concerning the northwest, its opportunities, its growth and its
development, led him to come to Washington in the fall of 1896, at which time he
made his way to the Yakima valley and purchased twenty acres of land on the
Moxee. He then undertook the task of interesting other Hollanders in this
country and in the work was associated with George Rankin and J. W. Clarke. He
succeeded in interesting in this district, several hundred families and assisted
in selling thousands of acres of land to them and helping them to become well
located in this region. In fact his work has been one of the main features in
building up the Moxee country with a very desirable and substantial class of
citizens, who have utilized the natural resources and opportunities of the
district and converted it into a very productive and valuable section of the
state. Mr. Wayenberg purchased more land until he became owner of eighty acres
in all. He has built a fine house upon his ranch and has one of the splendidly
improved properties of the district. There is no accessory or convenience of
the model farm of the twentieth century that is not found upon his place. He has
been very successful as a horticulturist and now has thirty-five acres of
splendidly bearing orchard, planted to apples and pears. His work has been
guided by sound intelligence that enables him to readily recognize the
possibilities and opportunities of a business situation and to quickly
discriminate between the essential and the nonessential. He is now well known as
one of the successful farmers of the Yakima valley and his work in bringing
about the settlement of the district cannot be overestimated.

On the 12th of January, 1882, Mr. Wayenberg was united in marriage to Miss Rena
Raak, who was born in Grand Haven, Michigan, a daughter of Gerrit and Ida
(Winter) Raak. Mrs. Wayenberg passed away March 7, 1918, her death being deeply
regretted by many friends as well as by her immediate family. She had become the
mother of five children: Teunis A., who is engaged in ranching on the Moxee, has
a wife and two children; Grace is the wife of Peter Zeutenhorst and has one
child; they reside on a ranch on the Moxee; Peter H., is a member of the United
States army; Ida M. is at home; and William H. is married and also resides upon
the old homestead farm.

Mrs. Wayenberg was a consistent and loyal member of the Reformed church, to
which Mr. Wayenberg also belongs. In fact he was one of the founders of the
First Reformed church of Yakima and has always been active and earnest in its
work, doing everything in his power to promote its progress. His political
allegiance is given to the republican party and he has served as justice of the
peace. He has also been officially connected with the schools as a director and
he is interested in everything that has to do with public progress and
improvement, cooperating heartily in all those projects which are a matter of
civic virtue and of civic pride. He belongs to the Yakima County Horticultural
Union and is interested in everything that pertains to the development of this
section of the state as a fruit producing center. His work has been most wisely
directed, the results have been valuable and far-reaching and the valley owes
much to his progressive spirit and the effective work which he did in bringing
Holland settlers to this section of the state.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.