1869-1943
Judge

Early Life.

In 1901 Ben Lindsey became judge of the Juvenile and Family Court of Denver, which in the 1920s was the best-known court of its kind in the world. Lindsey grew up in Jackson, Tennessee, until he was eleven, when his family moved to Denver. He returned to Tennessee and went to high school at Southwestern Baptist University. In these years he became close to his aunt's husband, who had unorthodox views about politics and economics and who influenced Lindsey's thinking.

Lawyer and Judge.

Lindsey returned to Denver at the age of sixteen, and his father, plagued by debt, committed suicide. Ben and his younger brother became family breadwinners. He was unable to finish high school but worked in a law office and began to read law. When he was nineteen, he attempted suicide out of fatigue and despair. After this crisis, as Lindsey...