On the 3rd of July, 1856, after Thomas had been taken back home, and when he was barely able to sit up, his father-in-law called and announced that he was going to town (Whitewater) the next day, to see his daughters, who were in service there. Thomas expressed a desire to go with him, as he was anxious to see his sister, who was also working there. Their only means of conveyance was an ordinary dump cart, drawn by a yoke of steers. A start was made the next morning, Thomas lying upon a mattress in the cart, and the father-in-law driving. Thomas fainted twice from pain before they had proceeded far, and each time, after he had been revived, the proposition was made to return home with him, but he was determined to proceed, and they continued on. His sister was overjoyed at seeing him, and arranged with the family she was working for to return with him, for a short visit. On the return journey the steers became frightened and ran away, and Father Kirkham, thinking he could outrun them, jumped off the cart and tried to get ahead of them, to stop them, but was soon left far in the rear. The end gate was lost in the race, and Thomas, lying upon the mattress, slid backward, and would have fallen out had not his sister, who was seated beside him, gripped the front of the cart with one hand and Thomas' collar by the other, and thus held him. After running frantically quite a long distance, the steers were finally stopped by a man who was along the road in front of them. The incident ended without any serious results, but it was a narrow escape for Thomas, who was as helpless, bodily, as a child, and who was partially hanging from the cart when it came to a halt. He couldn't help feeling that the devil was trying to execute his threat against him, and that a higher power had preserved him.
From that time his improvement was more rapid, although there were seven or eight running sores on his leg, and they kept him very weak. When he was able to hobble about on crutches, he used to have to carry his leg in a sling, suspended from his shoulder. When the limb hung down without a sling, it was so far from being straight that the toes were fully six inches from the ground, and the leg was much more painful than when suspended. How, under such circumstances, he was ever going to support his family, to say nothing of going to Utah, was beyond his power to foresee, and had it not been for the heavenly assurance he had received he would probably have lost hope.
About that time he met a man who claimed to be skilled in the art of healing, who prescribed certain herbs for his use, and told him to fill a bottle with angle worms and stand it in the sunlight until the worms turned to oil, and then rub the oil on his leg. He followed the directions, and his leg and health improved. After a few months he could touch the toes of his lame limb to the ground, and dispense with the bandages and sling.
The family removed to a stone quarry, and his wife boarded the men employed there at $10.00 per month each, and the family lived upon such scraps as were left from the boarders' table. Thomas was ambitious to do something, and tried sawing wood, at 75c per cord, and, though the exertion made his leg pain him much worse, he persevered, his wife quitting her housework from time to time to do the lifting for him, as he couldn't do it himself. Then he tried driving team to haul wood for a lime kiln. The men who accompanied him had to lift him on and off the wagon, as well as to load and unload the wagon for him, but this they did out of sheer sympathy for him.
In the spring of 1858 he moved back to the farm which he had lost, through sickness, the owner being willing to let the family occupy the house, and pay his wife for boarding men he employed at farming, while Thomas fed the pigs and did odd jobs.
On the 15th of September, his third child, David, was born. The larger the family grew the less likely it really seemed to be that they would ever reach the mountains, but Thomas fondly clung to the promises made him, that he should do so, and his faith in the Lord never wavered.
In the fall of the year he bought a span of horses and wagon, and spent the winter hauling wood into Whitewater, buying it for $1.00 per cord and selling it for $2.50 or $3.00. His leg was still very painful, but he could not content himself to be idle. In the spring of 1859 he obtained considerable employment on the roads, working poll tax for people who were too busy to work it out for themselves, getting $2.25 per day for himself and team. He also secured the privilege of cultivating a three-acre patch of a large farm, the owner of which was willing that he should have all he could raise on it. He planted it to corn, and raised 200 bushels to the acre, which, although corn was very cheap, insured them against want for bread and provided feed for the animals.
In the spring of 1861 he rented nine acres of land, and sowed it to wheat, with a fervent hope that if the Lord favored him with a good crop on it, he would be able, with what he had already saved up, to journey to the mountains.
On the 6th of April, that same year, his fourth child, Mary Ann, was born. She was welcomed as the others had been, notwithstanding the increased number it involved for the prospective overland journey.
The wheat planted grew well, and promised a heavy yield, but one morning it was noticed that numerous black bugs, called the chinch bug, had begun to devour the grain, or rather suck the sap from the stalks just as they were heading out, and it looked as if the next few days would witness the total destruction of the crop. One of the strange things about it was, that his seemed to be the only field in that vicinity that was affected with the bugs. While contemplating the shattering of his hopes, the Spirit of the Lord prompted him to go to the man who was working the other part of the farm and borrow a cradle (the best implement used at that time to cut grain with,) and cut a swath through the grain with it. He had an assurance that this would have the effect of stopping the ravages of the bugs.