Born 15 April 1835 in New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts.[1] Son of Samuel Clark and Diadama Hare.[2] Migrated with his mother and sisters to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, arriving September 1845.[3] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley in the Heber C. Kimball pioneer company, arriving fall 1848.[4] Emmeline B. Whitney (later Wells), his half sister, asked Louisa Barnes Pratt to take Hiram, age fifteen, with her family to the Society Islands Mission, 1850–1852.[5] Joined Benjamin Franklin Grouard, a missionary serving with Addison Pratt, on a voyage to Tahiti, October 1851.[6] Left the islands to return to California by 16 April 1852.[7] Served in the American Civil War; wounded at the Battle of Petersburg, 1864.[8] Initiated into the Thomas Masonic Lodge in Palmer, Hampden County, Massachusetts, 4 April 1864.[9] Married Caroline Josephine Fuller, 9 January 1865, in Palmer.[10] Cofounded a meat market in Palmer, 1867.[11] Served as postmaster in Palmer, 1869–1885.[12] Visited by Emmeline B. Wells, 1885, 1891, 1899, 1900.[13] Served as a selectman and overseer of the poor in Palmer.[14] Served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1891–1892.[15] Helped found the Wing Memorial Hospital of Palmer, 1913.[16] Died 6 December 1923 in Palmer.[17]
[1] “Hiram Eugene Wallace Clark” (incorrectly transcribed as Hiram Eugene Eallace Clark) in Massachusetts, U.S., Mason Membership Cards, 1733–1990, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, ancestry.com; Emmeline B. Wells, Diary, 15 Apr. 1892, Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells, Church Historian’s Press, churchhistorianspress.org/emmeline-b-wells.
[2] Massachusetts Death Records, 1921–1924, DGS 107189557, vol. 66, p. 121, 6 Dec. 1923, familysearch.org; Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (University of Utah Press, 2017), 503.
[3] “Emmeline B. Wells,” in Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. 4 (George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1904), 587; List of Members, 1841–1846, 14 Jan. 1846, Far West and Nauvoo Elders’ Certificates, 1837–1838, 1840–1846, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (Church History Library hereafter cited as CHL).
[4] “Emmeline B. Wells,” in Whitney, History of Utah, 4:588; “Early Dixie Pioneer Called to Final Rest,” Washington County News, 4 Feb. 1915, 1; Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells, 81–82, 89–90.
[5] Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells, 93–94, 503; S. George Ellsworth, ed., The History of Louisa Barnes Pratt: Being the Autobiography of a Mormon Missionary Widow and Pioneer [. . .] Life Writings of Frontier Women 3 (Utah State University, 1998), 149, 154, 180; R. Lanier Britsch, Unto the Islands of the Sea: A History of the Latter-day Saints in the Pacific (Deseret Book, 1986), 15.
[6] Ellsworth, History of Louisa Barnes Pratt, 65, 125, 149.
[7] Ellsworth, History of Louisa Barnes Pratt, 180.
[8] “Hiram E. W. Clark,” in U.S., Civil War Soldier Records and Profiles, 1861–1865, American Civil War Research Database, Historical Data Systems, Duxbury, MA, ancestry.com; “Capt H. E. W. Clark Dies at Palmer,” Springfield (MA) Weekly Republican, 13 Dec. 1923, 12.
[9] “Hiram Eugene Wallace Clark,” in Massachusetts, U.S., Mason Membership Cards, 1733–1990, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, ancestry.com.
[10] Palmer, MA, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1850–1905, DGS 7578180, Marriages, 1851–1886, bk. 2, p. 41, 9 Jan. 1865, familysearch.org; “Capt H. E. W. Clark Dies at Palmer,” 12.
[11] “70th Anniversary of Palmer Market,” Springfield (MA) Sunday Union and Republican, 14 Feb. 1937, section A, 14.
[12] “History of Palmer’s Four Postoffices,” Springfield Sunday Union and Republican, 30 Dec. 1934, section A, 8.
[13] Wells, Diary, 21–26 Dec. 1885; 10 Mar. 1891; 9 and 11 June 1899; 30 Apr.–1 May 1900; Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells, 207–208, 312, 393.
[14] “Capt H. E. W. Clark Dies at Palmer,” 12; Annual Report of the Town Officers of the Town of Palmer and of the Receipts and Expenditures for the Year Ending March 1st, 1888 (C. B. Fisk, 1888), 19.
[15] A. M. Bridgman, A Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators, 1892 (Wright and Potter, 1892), 66.
[16] “How Wing Hospital at Palmer Came to Be,” Springfield Sunday Union and Republican, 31 Mar. 1940, section A, 6.
[17] Massachusetts Death Records, 1921–1924, DGS 107189557, vol. 66, p. 121, 6 Dec. 1923, familysearch.org; “Capt H. E. W. Clark Dies at Palmer,” 12.