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.