Anderson County Biographies
"Portrait and Biographical Record of Southeastern Kansas"
Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1894
THOMAS LINDSAY, M. D. Very few save
those who have trod the arduous paths of
the profession can picture to themselves
the array of attributes, physical, mental and moral,
and the host of minor graces of manner and person,
essential to the making of a truly successful physician. His constitution must needs be of the hardest to withstand the constant shock of wind and
weather, the wearing loss of sleep and rest, the
ever-gathering load of care, and the insidious approach of every form of fell disease to which his
daily round of duties momentarily exposes him.
Such a physician we find in Dr. Thomas Lindsay,
who in his own person so closely resembles the
ideal we have attempted to sketch above. He is
the oldest physician in Anderson County, and has
practiced medicine in Garnett since March, 1857.
Like many of the representative citizens of the
county, he owes his nativity to the Buckeye State,
being born in Harrison County, August 6, 1826.
His parents, David and Martha (Orr) Lindsay,
were natives of Ireland and Pennsylvania respectively. The father was born in County Down,
and was of Scotch-Irish descent, inheriting the
sturdy characteristics of the former and the wit
and enterprise of the latter. Thomas Lindsay,
the grandfather of our subject, was also born in
County Down, North of Ireland, and was there
married. After the birth of one son (the father
of our subject), Mr. Lindsay and family crossed
the ocean and located in one of the Carolinas.
About 1810 he moved from there to Jefferson
County, Ohio, and still later to Guernsey County,
that state, where his death occurred about 1832,
at an advanced age. He was the father of eight
children: David, John, Rosetta, Mary Ann, Elizabeth, Thomas, Samuel and Amelia.
David, father of our subject, was born March 3,
1800, and was a small boy when he came to
America. He was reared on the farm, and being
of a thoughtful, studious turn of mind, educated
himself, and later taught school. He became a
minister in the Presbyterian Church, and pursued
this worthy calling the remainder of his days,
preaching in various towns in Ohio. In 1842 he
emigrated to Iowa, and located near Birmingham,
Van Buren County, but became disabled, having
fractured his thigh bone by falling from a stage
coach. He died at the age of eighty years. His
wife survived him until 1885, and died at the age
of eighty-five years. The following children were
born to them: Lydia Ann, Robert Orr, Thomas,
Mary Jane, Esther Jane, David Huston, Martha,
John, Samuel, Mary and Elizabeth.
The original of this notice was sixteen years of
age when the family moved to Iowa, and he received his education in public and private schools.
Later he read medicine with his uncle, John Lindsay, in Carroll County, Ohio, and later attended
the Western University Medical College, from
which he graduated in 1854, although he had
practiced with his uncle after 1849. Following
this he came west and stopped in Iowa, where he
remained one year. In 1857 he made his appearance in Garnett, and in 1862 he was commissioned
Surgeon in the Twelfth Kansas, serving until June,
1865. Since that time he has practiced his profession at Garnett, and no one stands higher in
the estimation of the people than lie.
Doctor Lindsay was twice married, first, in 1851,
to Miss Agnes Sharp, daughter of William B.
Sharp. She died in 1856 in Iowa, leaving two
children: William S., a physician of Topeka, Kan.,
and David, a physician of McPherson, Kan. In
1859 the Doctor married Miss Martha Smith, a
native of eastern Ohio and a daughter of William
Smith. To them have been given three children:
Samuel W., a druggist of McPherson, Kan.; Clara S.
and Elizabeth. Politically, Doctor Lindsay is a
stanch Republican. He represented Anderson
County in the Territorial Legislature in 1859, being the first under county representation. In
1867 the Doctor was again a member of the State
Legislature. In 1873 he was appointed United
States Examining Surgeon for Pensions, a position
he still holds. He is local Surgeon of the Santa Fe
Railroad Company, and is a member of the National Society of Railroad Surgeons. He is also a
charter member of the State Medical Society.
Doctor Lindsay still owns land near Garnett, the
same that he pre-empted thirty-five years ago.
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