Fresno County, California Biographies Source: History of Fresno County, California, with biographical sketches of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present (1919) History By Paul E. Vandor Illustrated, Complete In Two Volumes Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, California, 1919 Notes: Missing+page1185-1186 Transcribed by Peggy Hooper This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm FRED EUGENE LINDSEY.� An enterprising old-timer in the Scan- dinavian Colony who has greatly improved a ranch and now owns valuable property is Fred Eugene Lindsey, a resident of Fresno County since the early nineties, who was born at Antigonish, Nova Scotia, on February 27, 1856. His father, Thomas S. Lindsey, was born on the Penobscot River, near Bangor, Me., where he was reared a member of a Massachusetts family. He married Mercy Longfellow, who could trace her lineage two hundred and fifty years back to William Longfellow ; and after thus establishing him- self domestically, he removed to Nova Scotia, where he entered the stage business. He prospered until the advent of the railroad, and then the com- petition compelled him to retire and in 1868 he moved to Rockland, Me., where he was prominent as one of the investors and directors of the steamboat lines operating in that section, being general manager of the Rockland, Mt. Desert & Sullivan Steamboat Company. He died in Nova Scotia, at his summer resi- dence. Mrs. Lindsey also died in Nova Scotia, the mother of four children, three girls and one boy, three of whom are still living. Fred, the only one in California, was educated at Rockland, Me., and after finishing with the public schools, attended Eastman's Business College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. Thus equipped, he secured the position of purser on the steamer Ulysses, of the Rockland, Mt. Desert & Sullivan Steamboat Com- pany, an ill-fated vessel that was lost two years later. Next he officiated for a year on the steamer Mt. Desert ; but resigning, he returned to Nova Scotia, where he associated himself in the general merchandise business with L. C. Archibald & Co. When that firm dissolved and divided its holdings, Mr. Lindsey took the Amherst, N. S., store, having a partner and doing business under the firm name of J. B. Gass & Company, and he remained there in busi- ness until 1892. In that year he sold out and came to California; and on his arrival in Fresno County, he bought the forty acres he now owns in the Scandinavian Colony, and engaged in viticulture. A few years later he bought another forty acres adjoining; eleven acres of which he set out with Calimyrna figs, and the balance with Zinfandels. His home place is devoted to muscat, feherzagos and Zinfandel grapes ; and for years he superintended the work himself, leasing it out to others for the first time in 1917. Having thus so long been active as a practical and highly successful viticulturist, it is a matter of some pride to Mr. Lindsey that he attended the first meeting of a raisin association held in Armory Hall in 1892; since which time he has always been interested in and an active supporter of every similar movement. He was a member of the original raisin association and is now a member and a stockholder in the California Associated Raisin Com- pany. He has seen the county grow from a few sections to its present strength and importance as a part of the very prosperous Central California ; and all that he has seen he could and did prophecy, for it was evident from the first that Fresno and its environs had an exceptional and promising destiny. A public-spirited citizen always desirous of doing his full share of civic work, and a Republican who has served on the county central committee, Mr. Lindsey was for several years school trustee in the Scandinavian school district, and most of the time was also clerk of the board. In every way. he has done what he could to raise the standard of social life in the com- munity, and it is safe to say that he enjoys the esteem of his fellow-citizens to a high degree. During his sojourn at Rockland. Me., Mr. Lindsey was made a Mason in Aurora Lodge, No. 50, F. & A. M., and on the night when Jewel Lodge No. 42, I. O. O. F., was instituted at Antigonish. N. S.. he joined that order.