George K. Lee, Norman Lee's maternal grandfather, came to Kansas in 1872 with the commission firm of Lee and Curtis to work the Texas cattle trade. George would buy Texas Longhorns to ship back to Kansas City for slaughter. While trading he participated in two cattle drives and one horse drive from Texas to Dodge City. He also started a homestead in Pawnee County along the river where he would winter the cattle that weren't ready for shipment. In 1886 a blizzard struck and he lost the majority of his cattle. He then redirected his ranching operation and imported Galloway cattle from his father's farm in Illinois.
The first Giles, a father and three sons, came to Kansas in the 1870s and settled at Claflin, orginally named Giles Town. One son, Norman Lee's grandfather, then moved to Reno County where Norman Lee's father, Norman Albro was raised. In 1915 Norman A. leased a ranch in Ness County for five years until the end of the First World War. From there he moved to Ford County where he began farming and trading cattle throughout the 1930s. He also pastured cattle in the Flint Hills of Kansas.
In 1947, Norman A. and Norman Lee purchased the original ranch in Clark County. Today, Giles Ranch is home to four generations of the Giles family: Dolores Giles; her son Roger and his wife, Cathy; and Roger and Cathy's daughters, Jennifer and husband Shane Betschart and sons Peyton and Ethan, Katie and husband Brett Shaw and Molly and husband CJ Beckford.
