Henry first traveled to Salt Lake in 1851 with a small group of men and a single wagon with four horses. He continued on to California, staying there for a few years to earn enough money to bring out his fiancee from the East. He returned to Salt Lake, staying there for a season or two before returning to Illinois where he married Alameda Johnson. After a couple more years, in 1857, he and his family, consisting of his wife, new son, and orphaned niece Sarah Seaton,  joined a group of members from St. Louis in the Hart Company and went back to Utah.