 He studied law and was admitted to the bar in Norridgewock in 1853.He was a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1856, a clerk of the judicial courts of Somerset County, Maine from 1857 to 1860, and a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1860.Lindsey served in the Maine Senate from 1868 to 1870, sitting as its president in 1869, and he was once again a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1868.