From a history [email protected]:

Leander Thomas (Tom) the first of four children born to Leander Holman Clifford and Ada Mathias. Tom's mother died in childbirth when the fourth child was born. (According to records, Ada is buried in Providence, Utah, but the grave was not marked.) Tom's two sisters went to live with Grandmother Mathias and Tom stayed with his father. He was six years old.

Tom's father was an Indian Interpreter. On one occasion his father was called to go to the Indians to try to stop them from attacking. Tom went with his father on the back of his horse. While in the Indian camp, a young Indian boy shot a poisoned arrow into the calf of young Tom's leg. The medicine man immediately went to work and saved Tom's life but he was sick for many weeks and the leg thereafter was smaller than the uninjured leg. Tom walked with a permanent limp for the rest of his life.

Tom's father remarried and they moved into the Cache Valley where the family encountered many difficulties because of the hostile actions of the Indians. At a young age Tom started freighting and driving teams between Salt Lake City, Utah and the Montana mining cities. He also worked in construction on the railroad at Promontory and the Goose Creek country. In March 1877, while working for a company driving ties down Bear River to Corrine, he met his future wife.

Tom married Melissa Adelaide Gifford on June 18, 1878. Tom had a wagon and team of horses so they went visiting relatives on their honeymoon. They spent the winter in Clifton and Weston. After the birth of their first son, they embarked in a covered wagon on a trip to St. George to be sealed and have their son sealed to them.

They lived a time in Gentile Valley, on the Bear River below Soda Springs. They had encounters with Indians from time to time, but they were friendly. The Indians remembered Tom from his childhood and they considered him a friend.

In the spring of 1883, the Cliffords started for the Snake River country. In May they arrived in Rexburg. Tom took up land below Rexburg. Tom set up a bowery and helped build two canals. When the mosquitos got bad in July, they went to the Teton Basin where they hunted and jerked meat for the winter.

The next year they decided to return to Utah and settled in Price. After living there several years, they returned to Idaho in 1889 settling in the LaBelle/Lorenzo area. Tom cut willows, cleared ground to plant crops, and made ditches. He built a granary, stables, sheds, and sold loads of wood for extra cash. They were able to add a large room to the house.

Eventually Tom and Melissa's family grew to ten children: Leander Levi, Thomas Holman, Amos Benjamin, William Wallace, Ada Caroline, Melissa Margaret, Elmer Emmett, Elsie Medora, Warren Arthur, and Vera Alavon.

Tom helped lay out the land for the Cedar Butte Cemetery at Annis. He was appointed the first mail carrier on Route 1 at Lorenzo. He carried the mail for many years in his small white top buggy or the sleigh.

Tom's sons heard of ground east of Ririe, called Antelope. They all acquired land there. When Tom retired, they sold the farm at LaBelle and built a new modern home east of Ririe. They lived there until Tom's death in 1922.