George F. Lindsay. For nearly forty years Mr. Lindsay was prominently identified with the cotton industry, principally as a representative of the same in the great State of Texas, whence he came to Oklahoma City in 1898 to assist in the organization and establishing of a large cotton-compress company, of which he became vice president and manager two years later and from his active association with which he did not retire until he had attained to an age when the average man would consider such onerous duties and responsibilities beyond the limitations of his powers. He initiated-his connection with the cotton industry in 1866 and did not sever his association with the same until 1902–a record with few parallels in this field of enterprise. Mr. Lindsay is now secretary of the civil service commission of Oklahoma City and has been a valued member of this important body from the time of the adoption of the commission system of municipal government in the city, in 1911.

George Fry Lindsay was born in the City of Mobile, Alabama, on the 8th of September, 1849, and is a son of George Fry Lindsay and Ellen C. (Knox) Lindsay, the former of whom was born in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the latter in Sumter County, South Carolina. Mrs. Lindsay died in Oklahoma City, in July, 1902. Mr. Lindsay became one of the representative members of the bar of Alabama and served two years as judge of the Probate Court of Mobile County. He died in Alabama in March, 1850.

George F. Lindsay, of this review, acquired his early education in a private school at Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, and in the same county he completed a higher academic course in Stonewall Institute, an excellent institution of the locality and period. While he was too young to be eligible for military service at the time of the Civil war, yet when General Wilson attacked Selma, in April, 1865, Mr. Lindsay, who was then a lad of fifteen years, shouldered his gun and joined the Confederate forces that were engaged in defending the city. He thus served during the siege of the beleaguered city until he was captured and made prisoner by the Federal troops. His mother, then a widow, made earnest application to the Union commander, General Wilson, after the capitulation of the city, and on account of the youth of the loyal little defender the general consented to his returning to his devoted mother.

Upon attaining to years of maturity Mr. Lindsay became associated with the operation of a cotton warehouse in Selma, and within the eight years of his connection with the same he gained broad and exact knowledge, as he served in virtually every position to be filled in the cotton business. After severing his association with this warehouse he served eight years as cotton weigher at Selma, and during this period also he was unremitting in his study of all details pertaining to the industry. During the last five years of his residence at Selma he owned and had the supervision of a cotton plantation of 500 acres, situated a short distance east of the city, and on this place he raised from 125 to 250 bales of cotton of his own each year.

In 1884 Mr. Lindsay removed to Belton, Bell County, Texas, where for eleven years he was manager of an extensive cotton-compress business, besides becoming lessee and finally owner of another compress, at Temple, in the same county. In 1890 he had the supervision of the erection of a compress at Hillsboro, that state, and in 1895 he removed from Belton to that place to assume the practical management of the same. While a resident of Belton he assisted in the organization of the company which erected and placed in operation the Belton Cotton Seed Oil Mill, and was a stockholder and secretary of the company controlling the same. During his last two years at Belton he fed more than 2,000 head of cattle as an adjunct enterprise. Mr. Lindsay continued his residence at Hillsboro, Texas, for two years after he had come to Oklahoma City, in 1898, to assist in the organization of the large and important cotton-compress company in this city, and after establishing his home here, in 1900, he continued as vice president and general manager of the company until 1902. when he sold his interest in the same and permanently retired from the business that had largely engrossed his attention from the days of his youth.

Thereafter Mr. Lindsay was engaged in the real estate business in Oklahoma City until the commission form of government was here adopted and he was soon afterward elected a member of the city civil service commission. His effective and loyal service led to his re-election for a term of six years, beginning in May, 1913, and the other members of this important municipal board place the highest valuation upon his services, owing to his scrupulous integrity of character and his mature judgment. He has served as vice chairman and chairman of the board. Mr. Lindsay is now chairman of the civil service commission of Oklahoma City. For several terms he was chairman of the Oklahoma Traffic Association and a member of the board of directors of the same for twelve years; was also a member of board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce for some time, and has always taken an active part in public affairs. He has never wavered in his allegiance to the democratic party and as a citizen is essentially progressive and public-spirited, with a vitality and zeal possessed by few men upon whose heads rest so many years.

At Selma, Alabama, on the 11th of June, 18T3, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Lindsay to Miss Mary C. Corbin, daughter of John S. and Mary C. (Blackwell) Corbin, both natives of Virginia and members of sterling old families of that historic commonwealth. Mr. and Mrs. Lindsay became the parents of four children, of whom three arc living: Franklin was born April 16, 1874; Emma C. was born January 20, 1877; George Fry III, who was born September 20, 1878, died on the 20th of January, 1906; and Virginia (’. was born October 23, 1880.