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Each man erected his home or business establishment where he pleased. In 1840 John Cleghorn had erected a two-story brick home. Excavation for straightening the street on which it stood left the front of the house high above the street. Folsom family tradition says that William H. Folsom was in charge of placing a “story" under this house in order to bring an entrance at street level. He spent some time locating a number of large jacks, which he placed at intervals around the house. Men were hired to manipulate these jacks as he blew a whistle to designate the time and number or turns of the jacks to lift the house. With the upper stories thus raised, he and his assistants erected a street-level addition, then lowered the upper part on to it. With modern equipment, such an architectural feat is an easy task, but it was considered a novelty at that time.
The City of Keokuk has no record as to who held the contract for this work, but older citizens knew that it was done. The house is still pointed out as "the house with the third story built on the bottom" (Ray E. Garrison).
Apollus W. O'Hara, in his booklet, Illiamo, states that our Folsom family resided at Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, at one time. Those in charge of Warsaw statistics at the present time find no such record. It is possible that William H. Folsom found work in Warsaw and resided there temporarily.
The "piecework" he did from time to time failed to supply the needs of the family and provide funds to outfit them for the journey to the Salt Lake Valley.
Even though the Morse Code was adopted in 1820, telegraphy was not in common use when gold was discovered at Sutter's Fort, California; but that bit of news seemed to "flip" across the American continent as if by the wave of a magic wand. The word “gold" has ever held a profound influence on the minds of men. Without any preparation, men vanished from the communities in which they lived; others left good farms and homes and subjected themselves and families to sickness, hardship and often death in crossing the continent in order to reach their goal on the western coast. The demand for transportation by water was so great that Congress worked overtime on petitions from steamship companies seeking permission to build new ships and remodel old ones. The ships left New York, Philadelphia and New Orleans for Chagres, the port of entry to the Isthmus of Panama and around the Horn. Many of these vessels were so unreliable and unseaworthy that they fell apart when buffeted by storms. No one will ever know how many lives were lost in this manner.
Disheartened by his inability to accumulate funds for the journey to the Rocky Mountains to be with the Saints, Folsom accepted the offer of a friend, Mr. Hughes, to furnish funds for his transportation and "grub...stake" if he would go to California, build shacks, sluice boxes or do other carpenter work demanded by gold seekers, and if possible locate a mining claim. If successful, he was to share the profits with his benefactor. He realized that this meant leaving his wife with a young baby (Hinman Day) and four other children. What he didn't know was that it would be a very dangerous undertaking with many hardships for him to endure.
Housed in the Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley, one may find a declaration made by William H. Folsom and transcribed under the direction of the historian Hubert H. Bancroft.