Hyrum Don Carlos Clark was born at Farmington, February 13, 1856, being the fifth son and sixth child of Ezra T. Clark and Mary Stevenson. He spent is childhood and youth largely in Farmington as part of his father's very large and prosperous family, suffering the privations and relishing the freedoms and the joys of pioneer life. He was also occupied, at times, on his father's ranch at Georgetown, Idaho, and also at his holdings at Morgan, Utah. Father's temporary sojourns in Morgan were only five miles from Porterville here my mother, Eliza Porter, was growing up. They were married November 11, 1880 in the old endowment house.
The Ezra T. Clark family was a very patriarchal family. The children settled close around the parents in what was practically a communal life, which lasted until just a few years before grandfather's death. Father and Mother felt that they wanted to be away on their own; maybe they believed that "a man should leave his father and mother and cleave unto is wife." So early in 1882, for better or for worse--sometimes it seemed for worse--they left the commune and moved to Goose Creek in Idaho. Lots of sage brush, little water, losts of rocks and little soil: they nearly starved until 1887 when they abandoned their place with all its improvements, and with a little herd of stock and four children and two wagons, they moved to Star Valley in Wyoming.
Star Valley, in the early days, was a hard life. The only road in or out as fifty miles through mountains and canyons and meadows to Montpelier, Idaho. In the wet season it seemed that there was no bottom to the road, just mud. Every manufactured thing had to be freighted in with wagons or sleighs. The professional freighters with good equipment would take four or more days for the round trip. There were all sorts of heartaches, break downs, stuck in the mud, etc., along the way. When cattle were marketed, they would be driven three days or more to Montpelier, then shipped to Omaha or Denver. People did not go outside of the valley unless there was a great need. I remember when I was a youngster, there were several people who never saw a train until they went to the Logan Temple to be married. There was no electric service, except in Afton, until 1937, so all the little chores were done by hand. We drew the water from the well with a rope and a bucket. What a glorious day it was in about 1906 when Father drove a pipe for a well through the kitchen floor and clear down to good water. Then of all miracles, we had a pump right in the kitchen. It was in Star Valley that Father really started--about the time that Star Valley was getting started; it was here that he built his empire--and it was quite an empire; it was here that he reached his zenith in power and influence, in property and wealth, and then into decline. When Father went to Star Valley, he acquired squatter's rights to 160 acres with a log house on it. This house was home until 1900. Several of the children were born here.
About four years after arriving in Star Valley, Father started buying more land. It seemed that he wanted to get all the property that "joined him" and then the property that joined that, etc. All the while, his family was growing; were were nine children by 1900. He was growing financially; he was growing
influence in the community and in the church. He was a county commissioner, counselor in the Bishopric; later he was on the Stake High Council and acting the Stake Presidency. As a child, I can't recall ever seeing my father seated the congregation, he was always on the stand. In 1900, he built a large two-story house--one of the largest and most prestigious in Star Valley--where he had room for his large family (Mother had thirteen children and a place for visitors and church dignitaries (some of the Apostles stayed there when on assignment). His policy of "buy more land to raise more hay to feed more cattle to buy more land to raise more hay to feed more cattle" resulted in his having a spread of about three thousand acres and a thousand cattle. At one time, Grandfather Clark, noting that Father had a large debt at the bank, decided to go to Star Valley to see if everything was all right. He got to Montpelier where he conveyed his uneasiness to Uncle Wilford, whereupon Uncle Wilford told him, "You don't need to worry about Hyrum. He's all right." So Grandfather didn't make the strenuous trip to Star Valley. Father's ranch was probably the largest single ranch ever owned in Star Valley. He was esteemed by his church and his community. He had large powers and possessions, and a large family--surely he was a happy man. He maintained large holdings before, during and through World War I and, with high prices for beef, was able to clear all of his debts.
About the turn of the century, at the prodding of some of the authorities, Father entered into the practice of polygamy. He married Mary Robinson of Farmington. Over the years they had a family of five children. Aunt Mary was maintained in Paris, Idaho and in Logan, where it was convenient for some of the older children to stay while attending school. About 1908, after much suffering from the cold winters and high altitude, my mother was moved to Farmington, into a new home which had been built for her. After this time, Aunt Mary was in the home on the ranch, and Father spent his time between the two places. Every summer, Father and some of us would drive to Star Valley to help with the haying and come back in the fall.
On December 5, 1911, my oldest brother, Hyrum T., died as a result of a gunshot wound, suffered while hunting. This was a great loss and shock to all of the family--Father loved Hyrum T. like Abraham loved Isaac. One night in January, 1912, only a month after the death of Hyrum T., the folks were awakened by the house burning. The children had evidently built a fire on the wooden floor in the old log house, which was right behind the new big house. Both were completely destroyed.
One day, about four and a half years after the house was destroyed, we in the field about a half mile east when we looked up and saw the big barn belching smoke out of the hay mow. Father was a little away from us. We had a hard time attracting his attention above the noise of the mower; when he saw it the barn was all in flames. He said to Ralph Knowlton, who was then standing by him, "Ha jucks, and there's that new binder all burned up, all burned up but the irons, and they're left." It was a sad day for Father. The whole farmstead was now obliterated, except for a few minor out-buildings and corrals.
As Father increased his attention in Farmington, he decreased his ranch activities. He sold a 160-acre meadow and let out some of the other hay land; so his cattle herd was about half of what the peak had been but it was still sizeable operation. Things went along about normal until 1919. There had been a very light winter, hence very little water as spring and summer arrived. So Star Valley was in a very bad drouth, much worse than people realized. Feed was very scarce and expensive. Some hay was actually sent to Star Valley by parcel post. Large debts were incurred to acquire feed and to ship stock to Nebraska to feed. This was a very severe winter, and most of the livestock died. Then the bottom dropped out of the cattle market.
Father had been enduring notes at the bank for some of the boys to acquire property and livestock. They lost it all, and with Father's own debt, which he had incurred to carry himself over the crisis, he was in a bad financial bind Then the value of land dropped severely. Father was now past sixty-five. Life had been strenuous for him; he did not have the vigor to recoup--always hoping the boys would pay their interest. Thus things drifted, with interest compounding the debt, until his property was all swallowed up, save only his brick home Farmington.
Father was on a mission in 1927 when Mother died, He returned home, then 1934-35, he filled another full-term mission in California; there he observed his 80th birthday.
In his younger days, Father had gone on a mission to Tennessee. After about six months, he was released and sent home because of his poor health. His having to return home before filling a full-term mission worried Father he would mention it on occasion all through his life. This mission to California in his later years seemed to compensate for his earlier lack of fulfillment. I have often heard him observe, “When the church calls you to do something, no matter what, it is better you do it and get it done, than you can always feel easy about it.”
After returning from his mission to California, Father lived out the remainder of his days in Farmington. His daughter Herma said of him, “I guess I did not really know Father until the last years of his life. He was sweet and gentle and kind and had time to be friendly and considerate. He never said a word about his loss.”
He passed away July 2nd, 1938, having know prosperity and hardship, happiness and sorrow, but having always kept the faith.
