In the 1870s the federal government passed a series of laws designed to stop polygamy. Feeling pressure from federal marshals and knowing that President Brigham Young had advised Latter-day Saints to go to Arizona to help settle the area, Charles decided to send Louisa and her family to that area. He bought two new wagons and oxen, gave her some money, and arranged for Louisa to take her family, provisions, and a herd of cattle to Arizona. All of her children accompanied her except Orson Oriel who remained in Henefer.

They started on their journey by ox team and covered wagons on October 3, 1877. Accompanying Louisa were her children: Wellington (19), Prudence Priscilla (17), Rebecca (13), and Marland Golden (6), and the spouses of Wellington (Alice Bond), and Prudence (Joseph Bond). Rebecca, only thirteen, rode a horse and helped drive a large herd of cattle from Henefer, Utah, to Thompson Valley near Prescott, Arizona. They traveled to Heber City, down Provo Canyon and on to Richfield. In Richfield they overtook and joined the Redden Allred family who were also headed to Arizona. Later along the route they joined with another company. When they reached Mud Springs in Kane County, Utah on November 5, 1877, Wellington’s wife Alice gave birth to a son whom they named Osborne. They traveled through mountains and desert arriving at the Colorado River where they crossed at Lee’s Ferry. The family crossed first and then the cattle.

“To Prudence the way was long, rough and tiresome. They camped at Navajo Springs, Arizona, where she gave birth to a son. She became very ill forcing them to drive by night to Willow Springs. The baby died. The tiny body was placed in a crude coffin made of rough lumber and lined with cotton cloth. Wellington Richins and Francis M. Pomeroy carried it on horseback fifteen miles to Moenkopi, a Mormon settlement. There a graveside prayer and dedication was held and the body of Orson Obed was buried.”

The weather was bitter cold when they arrived in Thompson Valley, situated about 60 miles southeast of Prescott, Arizona on January 8, 1878. Their trek to Arizona of over three months had not been easy. It had been long, strenuous, and was accompanied by much sorrow and heartache. After living in Thompson for six months, Louisa became dissatisfied and decided to return to Utah with her two youngest children. Joseph traded his ox team for horses and he and Prudence accompanied Louisa, Rebecca and Marland on the return trip. Their travel back by horse-drawn covered wagons to Henefer was faster and more enjoyable than their trip down by ox team. Wellington and his wife continued on to Lehi and then to Mesa where they stayed.