The roads were bad in many places, streams frequently high, bridges in some cases washed away, houses occasionally long distances apart and feed scarce, all of which rendered travel very difficult for one who was unacquainted with the country and had no definite idea of the course he should take. Once they had to make an extra long drive because of not being able to obtain feed for their horses, and while crossing a series of swamps had the wagon mire down so that the horses could not pull it out. Leaving his wife and children in the wagon, Thomas went ahead until he found a house, roused the owner out of bed and hired him to take a fresh team back to help pull the wagon out of the mud. Both teams failing to move the wagon, the goods were carried out to where the soil was firm. Even then they had great difficulty in getting the wagon out of the mire, and Thomas, while standing in the mud and trying to raise the hind axle with a pole, so strained his side that he was unable to travel for the next three weeks, during which time they were under constant expense. By the time he was able to resume his journey the season was so far advanced it was feared they would not be able to cross the plains that year.
Thomas' sister had married some time before, and was living at Springfield, Illinois, and, on finding that it was too late to journey to Utah that year, he decided to go to Springfield and see his sister, as he feared he might never have another chance of doing so. They arrived there in June, and finding his sister and her husband living in the back part of a building that had formerly been used as a store, Thomas fitted up the front part as a restaurant, and made some money by operating it, but his health was quite poor and his leg very painful.
At the commencement of the year 1863 Archibald Buchanan, his brother-in-law, rented a stall in the market and proposed for Thomas to go in partnership with him, Thomas to do the buying and he to do the selling. Thomas closed up the restaurant and accepted the proposition. They did well during the year, and were feeling very much encouraged, but they bought very heavily of poultry and other perishable stuff for the holiday trade, and a thaw set in and caused so much stuff to spoil on their hands, that they lost nearly all they had accumulated.
A very sorrowful Christmas was spent as a result of their loss and disappointment, for they were counting upon what they had saved to migrate to Utah with. Thomas maintained hope in spite of the discouraging circumstances, and declared that he would go to Utah the following year if he had to walk all the way with a pack on his back, and his wife said she was willing to put up with any hardship she could to reach that goal.
After deep thought on the subject, Thomas took his team and son Ephraim, who was then a little over nine years old, and set off for a final trip through the surrounding region, to buy up supplies for the market, and announced to his wife and sister that it would be his last trip for that purpose.
For the first two days he met with little success, then fortune favored him; he was able to buy what he required for his load remarkably cheap, and arrived home and got his goods on the market just at a time when there was a strong demand for them at high prices. The profits from that single trip supplied him with sufficient means to warrant him in resuming his journey—not what he would require to go with a good outfit, but he feared if he waited for that he would never reach Utah.
After he had announced his intention to start, and while he was busy making preparations to do so, several different persons came to him with offers of partnership or other business propositions—some of them quite attractive—but he didn't dare to entertain them, lest the Lord would be displeased with him. In fact, he told his wife it was a trick of the devil, to get him to remain in that country. He and his wife conferred together in regard to the matter, not with any thought of accepting any of the offers, but to devise a way of hastening their departure if possible, lest they might be tempted to stay. They bowed in prayer before the Lord, committed themselves into His hands and asked Him to spare their lives and those of their children, and enable them to reach Utah in safety, and had faith that He would do so.
His brother-in-law did not want them to go, and not only did all he could to discourage them, but frequently declared that he himself would never go to Utah. The wives especially dreaded to part, lest they might never see one another again.
When the time for starting arrived, Thomas said to his brother-in-law: "Archie, you will yet come to Salt Lake City, and bring my sister with you!" He only scoffed at it, however, and insisted that he never would.
On the 29th of April, 1864, the family left Springfield, Illinois, with Utah as their destination—a distance to be traversed by team of about sixteen hundred miles. They had a good horse team and wagon, a good supply of provisions and $80.00 in cash. The eldest child was not yet ten years old, and the youngest three years of age. The parents were both in poor health, but they did not dare to give up or fail to hurry on because of that. Thomas' leg grew worse after starting, and soon got so bad that he could not even harness the team, the wife and eldest boy having to do that. They aimed to travel about twenty-five miles a day, but could not always do so, the roads being often bad, and storms frequently interfering with their travel.