Leslie A. Simpson

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Leslie A. Simpson (December 7, 1868 – September 29, 1926) was an American lawyer and Republican politician in North Dakota. Born in Deer Isle, Maine, he grew up in Portland and studied at the University of Minnesota. He read law in Minneapolis and was admitted to the Minnesota bar in 1889. In 1891, he married Rosaline Messersmith.

That same year he moved to Dickinson, North Dakota, where he opened a law office that would later become the Mackoff Kellogg Law Firm. He was disbarred in 1900 for unprofessional conduct but was reinstated three years later.

Simpson served in public office and in the military. He was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1893 and served two terms. He was Stark County’s attorney from 1896 to 1900. He represented the Thirty-First Legislative District in the North Dakota Senate from 1901 to 1913 and was president pro tempore of the Senate from 1909 to 1911. He also served in the Spanish-American War as a member of the 3rd U.S. Volunteer Cavalry (Grigsby’s Cowboys).

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him receiver of public moneys in Dickinson. He later sought the U.S. House seat in North Dakota’s 3rd district in 1912 and 1914 but did not secure the nomination both times, losing to Patrick Norton.

Simpson helped develop Dickinson and Stark County. He organized and led the Gladstone State Bank and helped organize the Farmers State Bank in Dickinson, serving as its vice president. He helped establish the Missouri Slope Land and Investment Company, which bought 120,000 acres for development. He became one of North Dakota’s largest landowners and also owned real estate in Florida.

He died of heart disease in Dickinson in 1926 after suffering a heart attack a few days earlier.