• Charles first traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with Brigham Young's 1847 company, but as explained in his 1848 letter to William Wollerton, he shortly after returned to Winter Quarters to retrieve his wife, Lavina, and son, Harvey John. They traveled together in Heber C. Kimball's 1848 company. Lavina gave birth to another son, Charles Alfred Jr., en route. Several years later, Charles Sr. captained his own company, bringing back a group of pioneers in 1855.  

  The obituary of his son, Charles, also mentions his travel to Utah in 1847 and 1848.

  In the 1850 Utah census of Great Salt Lake County he is shown as "Andrew" Harper but in Iron County he appears as Charles A. Harper.  His family is the same in both instances.

Brigham Young Vanguard Company (1847)

• Age at Departure: 30

Heber C. Kimball Company (1848)

• Age at Departure: 31
• Head of Household

Charles A. Harper Company (1855)

• Age at Departure: 38
• Company Captain

Sources

• 1850 Utah Census.
• 6th Company of 50 report, 1855.
• Albert P. Rockwood journals, 1847-1853, Journal, 1847 April-July.
• Andrew Jenson, "Harper, Charles Alfred," "Henrie, William," "Higbee, John S.," and "Holman, John Greenleaf," Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, Volume 4 (Salt Lake City, Utah: The Andrew Jenson History Company, 1971), 707-708.
• Book of the Pioneers, 1:15.
• Charles A. Harper diary, 1847 April-August.
• Early Missionary Database
• Farley, Madeline Malan, "Autobiographical Sketch of Madeline Malan Farley," Pioneer , May-June 1993, 25.
• Find a Grave (Website)
• Harper, C. A., to Brigham Young, 14 Sept. 1855, in Brigham Young, Office Files 1832-1878, reel 33, box 24, fd. 4.
• Harper, Charles Alfred to William Wollerton,  1 March 1848.
• Heber C. Kimball journal in Heber C. Kimball papers, 1837-1866.
• Heber C. Kimball journals, 1848 June-July and 1848 July-September, in Heber C. Kimball papers, 1837-1866.
• "Immigration List," Deseret News, 12 September 1855, 214.
• Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Supplement after 31 December 1848, 14.  
• Louis Alphonse Bertrand, Memoirs of a Mormon translated by Gaston Chappuis (1960), 146-55.
• Matthew Rowan autobiography and journals, circa 1848-1863.
• Norton Jacob reminiscence and journal, 1844 May-1852 January, 47-85.
• Perkins, Joseph Thomas, Autobiography [ca.1878], 102-4.
• “Pioneer of ’48 Taken by Death,” Salt Lake Telegram, 10 May 1935, 8.
• "Pioneer of 1847 Dead. Charles A. Harper of Big Cottonwood Passes Suddenly Away," Deseret Evening News , 25 Apr. 1900, 2.
• Pioneering the West, 1846 to 1878: Major Howard Egan's Diary, edited and compiled by William M. Egan (1917), 21-105.
• William Clayton diaries, 1846-1853, Folder contents: (2) Volume 2, 1847.