Hyrum Wilkins Manwaring was born June 23, 1877 in Granger, Utah, an early town that is now part of West Valley City, Utah suburb. His father, Herbert, came to the U. S. from Sandbach, England in 1869. His mother, Clarissa Wilkins, was the first-generation daughter of Charles Wilkins, also an emigrant from England. He was the oldest in a family of eight boys and had to begin working at an early age. That severely crippled his educational opportunities. Hyrum had to leave school after the sixth grade.