John Wolfe Lindley

I was born in Fredericktown, Ohio in August 1826. As fate would have it, my humble place of birth was nestled between what was to become Ohio Beta at Ohio Wesleyan University, and Ohio Delta at The College of Wooster. I decided to attend Miami in the fall of 1846. I was third cousin to Robert Morrison, so perhaps Robert had no choice, but to include me in this great experiment of brotherhood. When the six of us gathered that day after Christmas in 1848, I was the youngest of the lot.

I completed my studies in 1850, and began teaching Latin and mathematics at an academy in Tennessee. Later, I moved on to Charlestown, Indiana where I graciously accepted an invitation to become a member of the Masons. However, Phi Delta Theta was always closest to my heart. Father Morrison and I were known to have stayed up until the wee hours of the morning at the 1898 Convention banquet and the 1899 Semi-Centennial debating the direction of our Fraternity, and the news of the day. Robert could probably be credited with my fluctuation in political views; he being a Democrat. I was a Whig, a Republican, and even a “know-nothing” for a time. I wrote Bonds until the year of my death, 1907; some still in use today. As it turned out, I outlasted the rest of my Immortal Brothers.