Joe Payne and his family sell everything to travel in Ben's wagon train to get to California. They take the treacherous route across the plains and during their journey their son is taken ill but they continue to travel to their destination. However the journey proved too much for his son and he soon perished. As they were traveling from one side on America to the other they had no choice but to bury their only child in an unmarked grave. It is not known what happened to Joe and his wife but they survived the journey as well as Ash Hollow.