Ezra made several trips between Utah and the mission delivering mail and bringing back supplies. Due to an illness, he had an extended stay at home between August 1855 and May 1856, during which time he married Harriet Josephine Leach. Ezra was one of 3 missionaries who followed Heber C Kimball's counsel to marry the local Indian girls while at the Salmon River Mission. His wife was forcibly taken back by her tribe.