Leslie T. Connell was born in 1915 in Billings County, N.D. He worked at a variety of ranches in the area until 1944. He served in the Army from 1944 to 1946. He returned to the Jack Connell ranch after the war, then purchased the Win Pesheck ranch. In 1969, he bought the Jack Connell ranch and added it to his own ranch holdings.