Daniel Lindley was an American Presbyterian clergyman and missionary.
Background
Daniel Lindley was born on August 24, 1801, in Washington County, Pennsylvania, whither his grandfather, Demas Lindley, had moved with twenty families from Mendham, New Jersey, in 1773. He was descended from Francis Lindley, who emigrated from England to Connecticut about 1636. Demas married Joanna Prudden, a descendant of the Reverend John Prudden, who settled in America in 1637. His son Jacob, after graduating at the College of New Jersey, married Hannah Dickey in 1800, became minister at Waterford, Ohio, and was chosen the first preceptor of the embryo Ohio University. Daniel was the eldest of Jacob's nine children.
Education
Daniel graduated from Ohio University in 1824. Later he studied theology at the Seminary at Hampden Sydney, Virginia.
Career
Lindley was ordained by the Orange Presbytery in North Carolina on November 7, 1832. In 1834 he sailed for South Africa in company with five other missionaries and their wives, the first to be sent to that country by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The party divided at Cape Town. Lindley, Henry Venable, and Alexander Wilson, with their wives, traveled a thousand miles by ox-wagon to what is now the Marico district of the Transvaal, then almost unvisited by white men and occupied by Matebele under their redoubtable chief, Umziligazi. In this enterprise they were associated with the famous British pioneer missionary, Robert Moffat, father-in-law of David Livingstone. They were the first to transmit rumors of the existence of a lake in the north (Ngami), afterwards put on the map by Livingstone.
Shortly after settling at Mosega the whole party, except Dr. Wilson, were stricken by a mysterious disease, of which Mrs. Wilson died; before they recovered, the emigrant Boers from Cape Colony attacked and dispersed the Matebele, and because of the disturbed state of the country the mission party withdrew with the Boers when these retired. After a long and adventurous trek, which led them through Kaffraria, they joined the other missionaries (Adams, Grout, and Champion) in Natal. When Natal was occupied by the Boers and war broke out between them and the Zulus, the Lindleys with their colleagues were exposed to peril and much hardship and for a time had to retire to Cape Colony.
Lindley accepted the invitation to become minister to the Trek-Boeren, who had none of their own, and for seven years (1841 - 1847), as their only predikant, had Natal, Orange Free State, and the Transvaal as his parish. In his long journeys among his 20, 000 parishioners, he baptized nearly 7, 000 children, 186 on one occasion. One of the young Boers confirmed by him was Paul Kruger, afterwards president of the Transvaal. Lindley's name is still reverenced by the Dutch-speaking people of South Africa: a town in Orange Free State is called "Lindley, " and one of the large machines of the South African air fleet was named for him.
After Natal became a British colony he devoted himself to the Zulus, establishing a mission on one of the reservations, Inanda. He had served as a member of a commission appointed by the British Government to advise on the making and controlling of these "locations. " From September 1859 to October 1862 he was in the United States and traveled widely, advocating the cause of the Zulu mission. By the Zulus he was greatly beloved; they named him Ubebe Omhlope, "white Ubebe, " Ubebe being a former highly respected chief.
He returned to Natal and continued his labors till 1873, when the ill health of his wife led to their retirement. When the Lindleys retired it was said of them: "They take with them the unbounded affection, sympathy and respect of a circle which may be said to include the whole Colony. " In the United States he continued his tours of advocacy until in January 1877 an apoplectic stroke rendered him helpless.
Achievements
Views
Lindley was a strong opponent of slavery and outspoken in his support of the Union, but he was not an Abolitionist.
Personality
Daniel Lindley was a man cast in heroic mold, robust, fearless, stern, but tender-hearted.
Connections
Lindley married Lucy Allen, member of a family which is doubtfully said to include Ethan Allen of Ticonderoga fame, on November 20, 1834. Their eleven children, Mary, Martha, Sarah, Newton, Charlotte, Daniel, John, Lucy, James, Charles, and Clara, were all born in South Africa.