In New York Folsom met his future wife Zervial Eliza Clark, whom he married at age 22 on August 12, 1837.
Folsom and his wife were baptized members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in a frigid Niagara River on February 17, 1842.
[3] In 1851 he traveled to the Sacramento California area to the town of Rough and Ready where he worked on water projects that were needed to mine gold.
In 1854, he set out for Salt Lake City but arrived at Council Bluffs, Iowa, ten days too late to join the last company west.
Notably, he worked on columns for the Nebraska Territory capitol building, which were transported across the Missouri River from Council Bluffs to Omaha.
Soon after his October 3 arrival in Salt Lake City, Folsom opened shop on Main Street downtown.