Joseph found his sister Mercy now a widow. The house her late husband Robert Thompson had commenced for Joseph and his family had been left unfinished. Joseph was ill and unable to work much. Eventually, he began to labour for his brother-in-law Hyrum Smith, who allowed him some land to farm on shares. Unexpectedly, Joseph and Hannah received a substantial loan of money from her brother in England, George Greenwood. This enabled them to purchase some 20 acres of land on the prairie about two miles from the Temple site and by 1843, they had built a home. That summer, their son Heber was born. A fourth child, Joseph, followed on 13 July 1846.