Ben's Dream

[Janet the Wicked]

I recently hosted my first chat which was about Ben’s dream to move westward. I have been curious to know just what caused Ben to have such a vision. There was some interesting and insightful responses to my query and I had hoped to continue the conversation here on the boards as we have more time to mull the subject matter over.

In the episode Elizabeth, My Love, the following is revealed:
Ben asks Abel to be his partner in business. Ben says he too is finished with the sea. He says he has a dream.
Liz on her deathbed asks Ben to promise her he will follow his dream.
Later when Ben and Adam are leaving, a woman holds Adam in her arms and is excited about going west. Neither Ben nor Abel are wearing black bands on their arms, so it must have been at least some reasonable amount of time after Liz’s death before Ben left Boston.

So where did this dream come from?
Was he a Boston native?
Did he grow up on a farm?
How long did it take him to get to Nevada and why was that the final destination?