Upshur County, West Virginia Biography of REV. HYRE D. CLARK, D. D., PH. D. ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , July 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 510 Upshur REV. HYRE D. CLARK, D. D., PH. D., who gave forty years of earnest and effective service in the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church and who is now instructor in Greek and Latin at the West Virginia Wesleyan Col- lege at Buckhannon, Upshur County, was born on a farm in said county, March 21, 1847, a son of Jacob and Susanna (Crites) Clark and a representative of one of the old and honored families of this section of the state. The Doctor gained his initial experience of practical order by assisting in the activities of the home farm, and after attending subscription and common schools of the locality and period he continued his studies in the normal school at Fairmont, this state, while later he graduated from Allegheny College, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. Three years later he received from the same institution the degree of Master of Arts, and his degrees of Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy were conferred upon him by the Illinois Wesleyan University. While a student the Doctor gave intervals of service as a teacher in vari- ous schools, and after his ordination to the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church he held pastoral charges in the State of Illinois, where he thus labored with all of con- secrated zeal and devotion during the long period between 1880 and 1903. In the latter year he returned to West Virginia, where he continued his service in the ministry until 1920, when he retired from the high calling to which he had given the best years of his life. A man of high scholarship and exalted ideals, he finds an inviting field of service in his present position as one of the honored and valued instructors in the West Virginia Wesleyan College, the while he finds deep personal satisfaction, now that he is living in semi-retirement, in the fact that he maintains his home in his native county, where remain many of the friends and associates of his youth. He has served as district superintendent of the West Virginia Con- ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was for two years president of Hedding College at Abingdon, Illinois. His political allegiance is given to the repub- ican party. In 1891 was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Clark and Miss Grace Clippinger, a graduate of Monmouth Col- lege in the State of Illinois. Doctor and Mrs. Clark have two daughters, Misses Lois and Josephine, both of whom are graduates of the West Virginia Wesleyan College, from which each received the degree of Master of Arts, and a son Howard, who is deceased.