"The inhabitants of the islands had but little acquaintance with the management of horses or wagons; in fact, most of them knew more about handling a shark than a horse. However, in company with Nathaniel Thomas, who had sold his property and had money, I went to the mainland and purchased ten new wagons, ten sets of harness, and twenty horses. When I had everything prepared for the company to start, I left affairs with Brother Thomas and went ahead of the company to Scarboro, to prepare my own family for the journey. The outfit which I purchased for the company cost about two thousand dollars. Before leaving Brother Thomas I counseled him regarding the course to pursue, and charged him to be not later than the 1st of September in starting from the mainland. I arrived at Father Carter's on the 19th of August, and waited with great anxiety for the company from the islands, but instead of reaching here by the 1st of September, they did not come till the 3rd of October; and when they did arrive the wagon covers were all flying in the breeze. It took a good day's work to nail down the covers, paint the wagons and get them ready for the journey." It should be remarked that in the very starting of this company Nathaniel Thomas cheerfully stepped forward to the assistance of the poor and invested about one thousand dollars in wagons, horses, tents, etc., to fit out this company. While others who possessed this world's goods drew back and did not go with the poor lest they should be under the necessity of helping them. At this time Wilford had still another trial, and the integrity of his wife was further tested. Her parents, relatives, and friends {95} strongly opposed her starting upon the journey, and used every influence and argument they could against her accompanying her husband. They had been very kind to him, but when it came to parting with her on a journey of such a distance at such a time of the year, and to a land where her people were subjects of such bitter persecutions as were being inflicted upon the Saints in Missouri at that time, it was too much for them to acquiesce in. They knew that he must go, but they insisted that she must stay. Like her husband, she was of a spirit that did not shrink from duty when she knew it. Wilford said of her at the time: "Yes, Phoebe possessed too much firmness and faith and confidence in God to put her hand to the plough and then look back, or to give way to trials, however great. Like Ruth, she was determined to forsake kindred and country for my sake and for the cause in which we were engaged." Under these circumstances, and with a realizing sense of the dangers and hardships of the journey, and of painful conditions prevailing at their destination, they did not falter.