And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard went forth and saw that it was necessary to continue grafting, pruning, and scattering the branches of his olive trees.  The ground had become corrupted in some areas of his vineyard, and weeds had taken over other areas insomuch that his olive trees were in captivity and were being smothered.

And it came to pass that in 1635 Nicholas Holt left England where his Puritan beliefs were not tolerated, and where he was unable to prosper and grow and breathe freely.  The Lord of the vineyard planted him in the nethermost part of the vineyard in the virgin soil of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The first branches had only been grafted in this newly-opened part of the vineyard just 15 years before.

The Barrows were also transplanted there from England later in the 1600s.  From Germany the Lord of the vineyard took the Fornsslers and the Bauers in the early part of the 1700s.  The part of the vineyard that was Northern Europe was in the grips of the “Little Ice Age.”  Living was difficult, and religious bickering was rampant.  These Lutheran and Baptist branches needed room where they could grow unimpeded and bear fruit.  The Lord of the vineyard selected a corner of his vineyard called Pennsylvania for the Fornsslers and the Bauers.  He later grafted the Barrows, the Fornsslers, and the Bauers into the Kerns tree.

The Scotland portion of the vineyard was cold and stony.  The Lord of the vineyard chose an especially good and fruitful Presbyterian branch, called Andrew, from the McCornack tree, carried it across the many waters in a clipper ship in 1838, and planted it in the borders of his vineyard in Illinois.

Two years later he brought a branch from the Eakin tree in Ireland, and planted it close to the McCornack branch where he hoped that the two branches would pollinate one another and bear good, strong, hybrid fruit.  The Lord of the vineyard watched as Andrew McCornack’s son, Andrew, was grafted with a branch of the Eakin tree, called Maria.  The new branch was especially good and fruitful.  As it began to thrive, the Lord of the vineyard carefully took the young and tender branch and moved it to the Oregon Territory.  It was done in 1853, by covered wagon.

“How comest thou hither to plant this tree, or this branch of the tree?” a servant said to the master.

“Counsel me not,” the Lord of the vineyard answered.  “I have nourished this tree this long time, and it hath brought forth much fruit.  I have planted it in a good spot of ground for mine own purposes.  The fruit that shall come of this tree will accomplish a great work for the fruit of all the other trees that I have scattered throughout my vineyard.”

The part of the Lord’s vineyard that was Ireland was crowded with more trees than the poor land could support.  The trees were fettered, and could not produce.  They were in captivity.  “I will clean up this part of my vineyard,” the master said unto his servant.  “First, however, take that choice Condon branch and graft it over the great waters, in the place called Long Island.  Then I will cause a blight and a famine in this part of my vineyard which will thin the trees, that those which remain may bring forth good fruit which I may preserve unto myself.”

The Condon branch which was planted on Long Island, in New York, had a young and tender shoot called Thomas.  It joined with an especially good and promising shoot from the Holt tree, called Cornelia.  As soon as the Lord of the vineyard saw that the two shoots were properly grafted together, he loaded the new graft onto a clipper ship and sent it on a long journey around Cape Horn, up the western coast of the Americas, and planted it at St. Helens, Oregon.  This was the nethermost, nethermost part of the vineyard.  There was no further westerly place in which to expand the vineyard.

“Why camest thou here?” the servant asked the master.

“Counsel me not.  I know what I am doing.  I want to join a branch of the McCornack tree with a branch of the Condon tree.”

In process of time Herbert McCornack was joined with Ellen Condon.  From that union came Elwin.  A shoot from his branch, called Janet, was grafted with a shoot from the Kerns tree, called Tom.

The Lord of the vineyard had watched, nourished, and grafted the Kerns tree for a long time.  He had moved branches thereof from Scotland to Ireland to Virginia to Ohio to Iowa to Wyoming, and finally to Oregon, the most precious spot of ground in all his vineyard.

From the graft that was Tom and Janet came James.  He was grafted to Marjorie, a choice and most precious shoot from the Hunt, Simmons, Wight and Folkmann trees that had come from England and Denmark, and finally from Utah, with many stops in between.

The graft that was James and Marjorie proved to be a very strong and good union.  From it came much good fruit which the Lord of the vineyard laid up unto himself.  None of it was lost.  The James and Marjorie grafting was the one that the Lord of the vineyard had looked forward to and worked toward for many generations.  That union brought forth much fruit, and was the focal point that gathered all of the previous graftings and transplantings together, that all the fruits of many generations could be laid up in store and preserved unto the Lord of the vineyard.

And it came to pass that the Lord of the vineyard saw that his fruit was good, and that he had preserved the natural fruit even like as it was in the beginning.  And he laid up unto himself of the fruit, for a long time, even as he had planned.