Lindley, Jonathan
Jonathan Lindley, Alamo defender, was born, according to family tradition, on February 12, 1814, in Sangamon County, Illinois, the son of Samuel Washington and Elizabeth "Polly" (Hall) Lindley. There is, however, no reliable source for his parentage and date of birth. He entered Mexican Texas in 1833, possibly in November. Lindley, a stockraiser, applied for a land grant in Joseph Vehlein's colony on November 4, 1834. He identified himself as a single man, without a family. His quarter-league grant, located on land now covered by Lake Livingston in Polk County, was surveyed on June 21, 1835, and the grant was issued on July 17, 1835. Lindley signed the grant application with an "X," which indicates he was probably illiterate and could not have been a surveyor as some sources have claimed. The grant was later invalidated because a previous grant had been surveyed on the site and issued to William Pace in May 1835. Lindley appears to have been unaware that his grant was invalidated, and he was probably living at the site in the fall of 1835 when the Texas Revolution broke out. Lindley joined Capt. John Crane's company and participated in the siege of Bexar in November 1835. In December 1835, during the storming of Bexar, Crane's company served in the First Division under the command of Benjamin R. Milam. On December 14 Lindley joined William R. Carey's artillery company and helped garrison the Alamo under the command of Lt. Col. James C. Neill. Lindley was killed in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. His probate inventory listed his possessions as including eighteen head of cattle, eleven hogs, and a "Brand Iron."