L is for Lindley, John Van Lindley

John Van Lindley (1838-1919) was a Greensboro Quaker, Civil War soldier, civic-minded horticulturalist and pomologist.  Of English ancestry, Lindley was known as a leader among the "progressive and public-spirited men of the Piedmont. While his financial interests and business successes were many (including owning Pomona Terra Cotta Works), maintaining and working in his nurseries was always Lindley's first love. The Pomona Nurseries alone consisted of 900 acres and 11 greenhouses in Guilford County. Lindley also had a 350 acre nursery in Kernersville. The nationally-involved horticulturalist also owned nurseries in Southern Pines. George A. Grimsley described Mr. Lindley in the following manner: "Withal he is quiet and unassuming, prompt and careful; indeed, he attributes his success in life to his careful attention to every detail of his varied business, and he finds great gratification in the fact that he has been able to promote the progress and welfare of that section of the country in which he lives as well as the State at large." Quote found in In the second volume of the Biographical history of North Carolina by Samuel A'Court Ashe.

Many public areas in Greensboro and Guilford County are located on land donated to the city by the Lindley family and still bear the Lindley name: Lindley Park (which contains Greensboro's Arboretum), Lindley Pool, the Lindley Park neighborhood, PTI's Lindley Field and, the above-photographed Lindley Elementary (established 1928). Today, we celebrate ABC Wednesday's "L" alphabet day with John Van Lindley, who helped keep the "green" in Greensboro. (See A-K here). Read more on Lindley here. We wish we had a photo to post but there isn't even a Wikipedia entry on this man who features so prominently in the history of our community! The one photo we found is in a pdf file in Ashe's book (volume 2).

Comments

[Dina]

He sounds like a good man. Did he become a Quaker after his Civil War service?
Thanks for the new word pomologist.

[Katja Brown]

Learned a new word today! Pomology = the science and practice of growing fruit!

[Katja Brown]

Learned a new word today! Pomology = the science and practice of growing fruit!

[Roger Green]

Dina's question is mine too - Quaker and soldier?
ROG, ABC Wednesday team

[Joy]

The old Quaker families gave a lot to their areas. Love an arboretum.
Joy, ABC Team

[Janis]

Lindley was from a Quaker family. It is my understanding that Guilford has the largest Quaker community outside of New England. Lindley was a Quaker who fought on the Union side of the Civil War but was still accepted when he returned to Greensboro after the war. Yes, Quaker and soldier is a strange combination but, in those days, just about everyone able was enlisted.

Janis
GDP

[Jo bryant]

so intersting

[Joseph Carlin]

He was born named John Van Mons Lindley and was known to most of Greensboro as John Van Lindley, yet he preferred to be called J. Van Lindley. I just finished writing a book about him titled: J. Van Lindley - His Ancestors, Life and Legacy.

The comments above are correct. J. Van was a Pomologist (fruit grower). He was a "Birthright Quaker" because his ancestors had an unblemished line back to the beginning of the Quaker movement. Many Quakers fought in wars: Regulator Movement, Revolutionary, War of 1812, and Civil War. J. Van was living in Missouri when the war broke out. He was against slavery and that drove him to take the Union side. He served in a company that did not participate in action, so they were most likely a support group. He served as a private and was a buffalo hunter and saddler.

If you click on my name below, you will be taken to more information or you can check out www.Amazon.com with a lookup of John Van Lindley for a peek at the book's contents.