Born: Kentucky, 1792.
Died: Illinois, 1872.
Mr. Lindsey came to Illinois in 1824 and settled in Tazewell County. At that time he was a Baptist. In 1827 he associated himself with the Disciples. He was a reverent and faithful student of the Bible, and early in his life became a preacher of the primitive gospel. He resided on his farm. He carried a small copy of the New Testament in his pocket, and as he plowed he read and thought on the Word. This was a custom of most of the pioneers.
He was the leading spirit in the formation of the Mackinaw Church in 1837 which at once formally recognized his ability and fitness to preach the gospel and commissioned him thereto. After that, his wife superintended the farm and his sons did most of the work there. One year he evangelized on the condition that his brethren pay the wages of a male helper on his farm. Most of his ministry, reaching through sixty years, brought him little or no money compensation.
Much of his work was done in Tazewell County, but he also evangelized and formed congregations in McLean, DeWitt and Marshall Counties, also west of the Illinois River. His style of preaching was exegetical. He read and unfolded a chapter, more or less. His sermons usually continued from one and a half to two hours. He taught people publicly and from house to house. This was the business of his life. Once where he stayed overnight he so taught the host and his wife that they expressed the wish to enter the Christian life. The next morning, before leaving, he immersed them.
He patiently bore the derision that was too often thrown at the Disciples in the earlier years. As he rode quietly along the roads he sometimes would hear people say: "There goes a Campbellite. See the hump on his back." He was ardently missionary in his convictions, teaching and life. Three of his sons were preachers. From his home near Lilly, where he had resided for thirty-eight and a half years, he passed to his great reward.