Harvey Harris Cluff (1836–1916)

Harvey H. Cluff (1836–1916) was a business, civic and educational leader in late-19th-century Provo, Utah.

Cluff was born in Kirtland, Ohio. He was a son of David Cluff and his wife the former Elizabeth Hall. David and Elizabeth had eleven sons and one daughter. David Cluff had come to Kirtland to learn more of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and meet with Joseph Smith, Jr. The family later moved to Jackson County, Missouri, Springfield, Illinois and then in 1840 to Nauvoo, Illinois. He was a Mormon pioneer and settled in Utah Territory.

In the 1850s Cluff ran a factory that manufactured furniture. Also in the 1850s Cluff was among those who assisted in the rescue of the Martin and Willie Handcart companies. In January 1857 Cluff married Maragaret Ann Foster. They were the parents of three sons and a daughter, who all died as children.

Cluff served in the Nauvoo Legion during the Utah War. He later headed the Provo Lumber and Manufacturing Company. During the 1850s and 1860s Cluff served three terms on the Provo City Council. In 1860 he along with four of his brothers established a dance hall and theatre in Provo. Cluff took the lead role in many of their theatrical productions.

From 1865 to 1868 Cluff served as a Mormon missionary in the United Kingdom, spending part of this time as district president in Glasgow. He then was in charge of a group of Latter-day Saints crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Cluff served as a missionary from 1869 to 1874 in the Hawaiian Islands. On this mission he was accompanied by his wife, Margaret Ann Foster.

Cluff was one of the original members of the board of trustees of Brigham Young Academy (BYA). He also was in charge of the initial ground clearance for the Academy Building for BYA. His term of service on the BYA board of trustees was from 1875 to 1897.

From 1879 to 1882 Cluff served as president of the LDS Church's Hawaiian Mission, with Margaret again accompanying him on this assignment. While he was mission president the corner stones for a new chaapel at Laie, Hawaii, the headquarters of the mission, were broken. The Church was respected enough that King David Kalākaua the reigning monarch of Hawaii at the time, attended the corner stone ceremonies.

From 1875 to 1877 Cluff was the bishop of the Provo 4th Ward. He then served as a counselor in the Utah Stake Presidency (then comprising all of Utah County) to Abraham O. Smoot. He also was superintendent of the construction of the Provo Tabernacle.

In 1877 Cluff had began the practice of plural marriage. In 1887 he was arrested for on charges of unlawful cohabitation and eventually served six months in prison due to this.

Cluff was also the head of the Hawaiian Latter-day Saints at Iosepa, Utah and involved in developing agriculture there.

Cluff was the uncle of Benjamin Cluff, who became the first president of Brigham Young University.