Person:Mary Green (144)

My sources for MAG's dates of birth and death are the tombstone of MAG, which I have seen on several visits to Carroll Creek/Old Chapel cemetery in Red River Parish, LA; and her death certificate (LA Dept. of Health, Division of Vital Records, death certificate 1620); I have a certified copy). The information on the death certificate was supplied by her husband Alexander Cobb Lindsey. Though this document lists her place of birth as Pointe Coupee Parish, I believe that it was more likely that she was born in Avoyelles Parish, since this is where her parents appear to have been living at the time of her birth (for details, see file of her father Ezekiel S. Green).

On the 1870 census, MAG is in the household of her father in Natchitoches Psh., LA. See his file for details. From 1880 on, MAG is on the census in the household of her husband Alexander Cobb Lindsey in Red River Psh. See his file for details. The 1900 census says that she was b. in Oct. 1861, and had been married 24 years. Note that the year of birth here conflicts with that on her death certificate. The census says that MAG's parents were both born in AL; with re: to her father, this appears not to be correct. The 1910 census gives MAG's age as 50, and says that she was the mother of 13 children, 12 living. It says that her mothre was b. in LA, and her father in AL; I believe the opposite is correct. The 1920 census gives her age as 59.

I have index listings of two deeds of MAG (Mary Ann Lindsey), both dated 1890, of which I do not have copies. The first deed is dated 18 March 1890, and is a deed of MAGL to W.H. Chandler of land in section 36, twp. 14, range 10W. The second deed is dated 15 April 1890 and is to O.J. Sellars for land in the same coordinates.

An obituary of MAG is in COUSHATTA CITIZEN, vol. 67, #14 (Friday, 3 July 1942). This states that Mrs. A.L. [sic] Lindsey, 80, died at her home near Coushatta at 3 o'clock the preceding Friday following a long illness, and that her funeral was held at Armistead [Methodist] Chapel on Saturday afternoon with Rev. E.M. Mouser, Methodist minister of Hall Summitt, officiating. The obituary says that MAG is survived by her husband A.L. [sic] Lindsey; sons Sam of Coushatta, Dennis of Little Rock, E.E. of Jefferson, TX, Clarence of Chestnut, Robert of Hall Summitt, A.B. of Coushatta, and Emmett of New Orleans; and daughters Mrs. F. Jones of Longview, TX, Mrs. Emma Rutledge of Minden, and Mrs. Cumalie Griffith of Shreveport, along with 50 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren. The same page of the newspaper has a card of thanks from the Lindsey family for the kindness shown by friends during the illness of their mother and grandmother.

MAG's death certificate also notes that she died on 26 June 1942 at 3 P.M. The cause of death is listed as chronic bronchitis, from which she had suffered 40 years, complicated by MAG's age and malnutritiion. The death certificate notes that MAG had lived in Red River Psh. for 75 years, and gives her address as RFD 3, Coushatta, LA. Her father's name is given as Zeke Green, and her mother's as Mary Ann? A.C. Lindsey, who supplied the information, did not know where either parent was born. The certificate is signed by ACL and the attending physician, Dr. N.B. Hunter. The death certificate lists A.C. Lindsey's name as Alexander Cobb Lindsey, and gives his age as 84.

Family stories speak of MAG as a woman of great strength of character, who had a quiet, stoic disposition and great faith. My father often spoke of the time when MAG was informed that her son John Wesley had been killed working in the oil fields. According to the story, she accepted the news without display of emotion, remarking only that she had expected something of the sort to happen, and that it was God's will.

MAG's strength of character and kindness appear to have been much admired by her family. I have never heard any family member, including her daughters-in-law, speak of her with anything but the highest praise and affection. My grandmother, Valerie Snead Lindsey, wife of Alexander and Mary Ann Lindsey's son Dennis, did not have high regard for her father-in-law, A.C. Lindsey, but always remarked on the gentleness and faith of her mother-in-law. Various family stories say that MAG was the only person who could curb the rambunctious, headstrong temper of her husband. Grandpa Lindsey tended to do just as he pleased, and to disregard the advice of others, including his children. In fact, he seemed to take a perverse delight in doing the opposite of what was expected of him. But family stories say that when Grandpa became enraged and stormed about, MAG had only to raise her finger and say in a quiet voice, "Now, Alec, that's enough," and he would calm down.

In his memoir of Alex. C. Lindsey in MARK LINDSEY HERITAGE (on this, see file of Alex. C. Lindsey), Carlton Lindsey adds a memoir of MAG. It reads as follows: "We all loved and respected Molllie Green Lindsey, our grandmother. She was an angel on earth, as she is now in heaven. She was a picture of peace, tranquility, and composure on all occasions. She had such grace and good will toward others that they felt good and at ease. When she read the bible and discussed it, I understood and believed because I knew that she lived it."

In her reminiscences about MAG in RED RIVER PARISH HERITAGE, MAG's granddaughter Mary Lou Lindsey Prothro says that MAG was a staunch Methodist, and did not mind telling you so, and that, like most Methodists, she was not averse to drinking alcohol in moderation. Consequently, she made brandied peaches for Christmas every year. These were hidden from her sons, and brought out on Christmas day, with the adults of the family being given a bit of the brandy to drink, and the children receiving the peaches. MLLP recalls the warm sensation the peaches gave to the pit of her stomach, when she was a child. (See file of A.C. Lindsey on this document).

MLLP recounts another story that has to do with Grandpa Lindsey's career as a doctor. After his family had begun to grow up, ACL decided to go to Memphis to study medicine. Family stories say that ACL often recalled that when he came home from his studies, he "found Mollie standing on the porch laughing and waving, and when I went away, I saw her on the porch crying and waving." After he had practiced medicine a few years in Red River Psh. as an "eclectic" doctor, the state passed a law requiring all doctors to pass a qualifying exam and to pay a fee to be licensed. With typical Lindsey stubbornness, ACL refused to take the exam or pay the fee. Mary Lou Lindsey Prothro says that MAG visited her husband in jail, and he asked her, "Mollie, what should I do?" MAG replied, "Alec, all in the world they want is your money. You'd best stay in jail and not give it to them." Hearing this story, I've sometimes wondered whether it was something of a relief to Grandma Lindsey to have Grandpa in jail for a while.

I can recall another story involving MAG that I heard at my grandfather Dennis Lindsey's funeral. BDL's brother Clarence told the story. He said that, on one occasion, my grandfather wanted to go to town, and tried to hitch up a beligerent horse to the buggy for the ride. Every time he would do this and climb into the buggy, the horse would buck and throw him out of the buggy. With patience and persistence, he finally succeeded. My great- grandmother watched the whole affair from the porch, where she sat sewing and peeking up from underneath her sunbonnet. That evening, BDL complained at supper that his back hurt, and he didn't know why. MAG smiled, but did not embarass her son by recalling to him the reason that his back was in such pain.

In Feb. 1987, I interviewed MAG's granddaughter Lucy Mai Lindsey Parker of Coushatta, a daughter of Samuel Mark Lindsey and Avie Frances Nix. LMLP told me that, until her death, MAG had hair as blond as that of a young girl. At her death, there was not a speck of gray in her hair. She also told me that MAG loved dolls, and when she took to her sickbed shortly before she died, she kept a doll beside her in the bed. Even though she was dying, she kept busy in the bed piecing quilts, with the doll lying beside her on the pillow.

I have a number of pictures of MAG taken in her old age, perhaps her 70s, at the family's house in Coushatta. They show her to have been a small, thin woman with light hair, light complexion, and light eyes. In the pictures, her hair is severely pulled back into a bun, in the fashion of elderly Southern women of the first half of the 20th century. All the pictures show her with a rather grim and stoic expression. They suggest to me that MAG endured much suffering in her life, and that she experienced some sadness because of it. By all accounts, her husband was not always pleasant to live with, and, by the time she died, she had seen a son killed at a young age, and had known a life of hard work raising a large family in a South in which poverty was endemic after the Civil War.

MAG is buried beside her husband in Old Chapel (Methodist) Cemetery, Red River Psh., LA. Her tombstone gives the same dates of birth and death as those of her death certificate.