William W. Cluff

William Wallace Cluff

William Wallace Cluff
Born William Wallace Cluff
(1832-03-08)March 8, 1832
Willoughby, Lake County, Ohio, USA
Died August 21, 1915(1915-08-21) (aged 83)
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

William Wallace Cluff (March 8, 1832 - August 21, 1915) was an American Latter-day Saint missionary and leader in the 19th Century, and a member of the Utah Territorial Legislature.

Cluff was born in Willoughby, Lake County, Ohio. His parents David Cluff (Clough) and Sr. and Elizabeth (Betsey) Hall joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when Cluff was about one. In 1837 they moved west, intending to go to Missouri, but were delayed by illness and stopped in Springfield, Illinois. In 1840 they moved to Nauvoo to be with the body of the Church, and then moved west in 1846.

He arrived in Utah in 1850, and in 1853 he served in the Nauvoo Legion during the Walker War. From 1854-1858 Cluff served as a missionary in Hawaii, and from 1860-1863 he served another mission, this time in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. In October 1863 he married Ann Whipple.

In 1864 Cluff went to Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) with Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, Ezra T. Benson and Alma T. Smith to respond to messages from Jonathan Napela and other local elders that Walter M. Gibson, who had been sent by Brigham Young to preside over the Church in Hawaii, which was committing irregularities such as selling the priesthood. Upon approaching the shore, their boat was capsized and Lorenzo Snow went under the water. Cluff found and dragged Apostle Snow's body to shore and gave him resuscitation after working with him for several minutes. The companions thought that Apostle Snow had died, but Cluff said "No, the Lord would not allow him to die being so far away from home" and Snow was saved from drowning. Cluff and the others were able to reestablish regular order in the Church while in Hawaii. After this Cluff returned to Utah.

In 1865 Cluff was called as regional presiding bishop over Morgan County, Utah, Summit County, Utah and Wasatch County, Utah. From this point one, except for a mission in 1870-1871 to Scandinavia, Cluff resided in Coalville, Utah. He served in two Utah Constitutional conventions during the 1870s and 1880s (both of which ended up being without effect since Utah was denied statehood) and also six terms in the Utah Territorial Legislature.

From 1877-1901 Cluff served as president of the Summitt Stake, which included all of Summit County, Utah.

Cluff was elected to the Utah Territorial House of Representatives in 1865 for the disctict including Summit County, Utah and Green River County, Utah. He served there until 1870. After being replaced by Orrin S. Lee for one term he was again in the territorial house for the 1874 term. In the next election in 1876 Cluff was elected to the upper house of the state legislature, known as the Council. He was one of four councilors elected jointly from Salt Lake, Tooelle and Summit Counties. The other three were Wilford Woodruff, Robert T. Burton and John T. Caine. In 1882 council districts were redrawn and Summit was put with Wasatch County (centered on Heber City), Uintah County, Utah (the main city in this county is Vernal, Utah) and Morgan County. Cluff was elected as the Councilor from this new district. In 1884 Cluff was also made the president of the Council. This was Cluff's last term in the territorial legislature. He was succeeded by Samuel Francis.[1]

Family

Ann Whipple Cluff

Spouse:
Married Ann Whipple October 24, 1863, in Pine Valley, Washington Co., UT.
Ann Whipple Cluff (1842–1927)

Children:
Erastus Eli Cluff (1869–1871)
Albian Whipple Cluff (1873–1879)
Edwin Cluff (1873 - 1873)
Flora Marian Cluff Eldredge (1879–1953)
Joseph Fielding Cluff (1884 - 1884)

References

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