I don’t know much about Hiram Long. He was born in 1852 in Tetbury, Gloucester, England, where he was still living in 1901. He was baptized in 1891. His record in Family Search contains only the details that would have been entered into his membership record – his birthdate, and parents’ names, but no death date, no siblings.

Hiram was single, age 48, in 1901. He was a farm laborer, living next to two other Long families who might have been headed by his brothers since they are roughly his age. Both presumed brothers were sawyers (lumbermen); their working-age daughters are a dressmaker, a domestic servant, and a laundress. None of this group of Longs, save Hiram, seems to have been LDS; at least, I cannot find them in Family Search.

It’s hard to imagine a man from that background being especially prominent in the Church, and indeed he does not appear in the Millennial Star or other easily searched records. I know for a fact that, as of 1901, at least, he had not met Francis Lyman, apostle and president of the European Mission, on any of Pres. Lyman’s travels around the country.

He must have known and loved the missionaries, though, and he found a unique way to serve them, humbly and anonymously.

In 1901, he bought and sent a watch – a calendar watch, tracking the date as well as the hour – to President Lyman. It was the third such watch he had sent – to be given to some missionary who didn’t have a watch. President Lyman promised to “keep your identity sacred,” and to select a worthy Elder in need. “The Lord bless you,” he wrote in gratitude.

President Lyman’s acknowledgment is a mere four lines long, and is not the kind of record likely to attract attention in this world. I’m guessing Hiram Long didn’t attract much attention during his lifetime. Time cannot completely hide the kind of man he was, though.