Daniel Lindley (August 24, 1801 – September 3, 1880) was an American missionary in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. He and his wife Lucy founded the Inanda Seminary School in 1869. Lindley was pastor to the first

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

in the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

. He was a pastor to the Voortrekkers.

Description

Lindley was born at Ten Mile Creek, Pennsylvania on 24 August 1801. He was the eldest child of

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...

and Hannah Lindley. His father had founded

Ohio University Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...

so not surprisingly Lindley was educated there and at the Union Seminary in Prince Edward, Virginia. In 1831 he was ordained by the Presbyterian Church. On 20 November 1834 he married Lucy Virginia Allen and they were sent by the

American Board of Missions The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most imp ...

to South Africa. His colleagues on board the ''Burlington'' were the medical doctors Newton Adams, Alexander Erwin Wilson, three other missionaries and their wives. When they arrived in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

they still had to cover. Their journey in the company of Alexander Wilson, Henry Venable and their wives took a year by ox cart to get to

Matabeleland Matabeleland is a region located in southwestern Zimbabwe that is divided into three provinces: Matabeleland North, Bulawayo, and Matabeleland South. These provinces are in the west and south-west of Zimbabwe, between the Limpopo and Zambezi ...

. Lindley together with other missionaries were to work creating converts amongst the Matabele but their plan was thwarted by the fighting that was taking place between the Dutch and the Matebele. They had to retreat to

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

and from there they were driven away again by the fighting between the

Boers Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controlled this are ...

and the

Zulus Zulu people (; zu, amaZulu) are a Nguni ethnic group native to Southern Africa. The Zulu people are the largest ethnic group and nation in South Africa, with an estimated 10–12 million people, living mainly in the province of KwaZulu-Na ...

. In 1839 Lindley returned and decided that with the Zulus out of reach he should minister to the Boers. He opened a school for their children and was appointed as a pastor. On 31 March 1842, Lindley led the founding congregation of the first

in the Orange Free State.First Dutch Reformed Church in the Orange Free State
SAHistory.org.za, accessed 9 August 2013 These institutions were successful and amongst the first to be confirmed was

Paul Kruger Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (; 10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904) was a South African politician. He was one of the dominant political and military figures in 19th-century South African Republic, South Africa, and President of the So ...

who was to be the first President of South Africa. Sarah Adams, James Bryant, Mary Elizabeth, Lucy Virginia, Rev

In 1847, Lindley established a station at Inanda, centering his efforts on the Zulus and helping set aside large "native locations" to protect them from land-hungry settlers. Lindley moved to the Inanda Mission in 1858 with his wife and eleven children. Lindley fired his own bricks to build the mission house which is still standing over 150 years later. The following June Lindley was able to return to the United States. The family returned in October 1862 leaving their third child Sarah behind to take up a position teaching in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, and Yonkers, with a population of 211,328 at the 2020 United States census. Located in W ...

. They were away during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

and whilst they were in Africa their home was razed to the ground. At the Lindleys' retirement in 1873, Zulus and Boers expressed deep regard. The Lindleys retired to the United States in 1874. Lindley died on 3 September 1880 in Morristown, New Jersey. He was buried in the

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, New York, is the final resting place of numerous famous figures, including Washington Irving, whose 1820 short story " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set in the adjacent burying ground at the Old Dutch ...

in New York.

School for girls

Inanda Seminary-Original Building - Edwards Hall, Lucy Lindley Hall behind

In 1869 they realised that the Adams School at Adams Mission was successfully creating educated Africans but they had no prospect of finding an educated local wife. They said "who are they going to marry? – these naked girls".Dumisani Zondi - Educationist from Inanda
ulwazi.org, accessed 15 August 2013 The couple realised this was a problem and founded a school for nineteen girls boarding at Inanda in 1869. The cost of this was borne by the American Missionary Board. The headteacher was brought from Ohio and Mary Kelly Edwards was to serve the school until her death 58 years later. One of the Lindley daughters went on teach at the school but the Lindley family left in April 1873 leaving the organisation that they had established in the hands of the Reverend James Dube. Dube was the son of one of the first Christians in the area. Dube was to die in 1877 but not before he had fathered

John Dube John Langalibalele Dube (22 February 1871 – 11 February 1946) was a South African essayist, philosopher, educator, politician, publisher, editor, novelist and poet. He was the founding president of the South African Native National Congress ...

who was to found

Ohlange High School Ohlange High School is a secondary school in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded by John Dube and Nokuthela Dube née Mdima.

and take a leading role in creating the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

. Lindley left Inanda having created what would become Inanda Seminary School, the Seminary, a church and several schools based in native huts.

Legacy

The mission house that Lindley built at the Inanda Mission is still standing and is still used as the main office at the Seminary. Lindley and his wife's major contribution was to establish the school for girls. The Inanda Seminary School is still running and has a good record and noted alumni. In addition, the town of Lindley in the Free State is named after him. A bridge in Pietermaritzburg was named the Daniel Lindley Bridge in 1967.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindley, Daniel 1801 births 1880 deaths Founders of educational institutions Protestant missionaries in South Africa Dutch Reformed Church missionaries American expatriates in South Africa American members of the Dutch Reformed Church Ohio University alumni Christians from Pennsylvania Burials at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery