Cluff was born in
Willoughby,
Lake County, Ohio. His parents David Cluff (Clough) 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 in a company led by
Edward Hunter (Latter-day Saint), and in 1853, he served in the
Nauvoo Legion during the
Walker War. From 1854 to 1857, Cluff served as a missionary in Hawaii. In the fall of 1857, Cluff left the mission and went to California. There, he was involved in working with lumber mills and met Ann Whipple, whose father, Eli Whipple, ran a lumber mill. Cluff and Ann Whipple married. Her father, also a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized a company of nineteen missionaries returning from their fields of labor as well as a few member families and started out from
Redwood City, California, for Utah. On reaching Utah, Cluff returned to his home in Provo but was soon sent to Salt Lake City, where he was stationed in the Beehive House—along with
John T. Caine, Horace K. Whitney, and James Ferguson—with orders to watch Johnston’s Army as it moved through the city and to burn the place if there were indications the peace plan was not being followed. Cluff and the others were able to reestablish regular order in the Church while in Hawaii. Shortly after this, Cluff was the main force in locating
Laie, Hawaii, to be the new gathering place for the Saints in Hawaii. He received a vision while in Laie, confirming it as the right place to set up a settlement. In 1865, Cluff was called as regional presiding bishop over
Morgan County, Utah,
Summit County, Utah, and
Wasatch County, Utah. From that point on, except for a mission in 1870-1871 to Scandinavia, Cluff resided in
Coalville, Utah. During his 1870-1871 mission, he served as president of the Scandinavian Mission. 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 to 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 district including
Summit 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. William W. Cluff died at his home in Salt Lake City on August 21, 1915. ==References==