When Joseph boarded the boat with his sister Sarah, her son Henry and her daughter Emily, he knew that there would be struggles ahead of them. In the home country, Joseph watched many of his neighbors and family, including Sarah's husband, die from disease, starvation, and the increased taxes that took away everything they had. While fleeing the country was a dangerous move, it was necessary, as they could not sustain themselves in their home country any longer.

While Joseph doesn't have plans on being the leader of thier large group of 100, he does plan to work hard to sustain his family, likely to take up farming, which was his profession back home.