John Milton Lindly was born near Lindly’s Mills, Pennsylvania, on November 17, 1864. In April 1866, his parents moved their family to Winfield, Iowa. It was there that Lindly attended public schools before becoming a student at Iowa Wesleyan University. Lindly received his diploma from the University of Iowa’s department of pharmacy in 1889. He graduated from the National Institute of Pharmacy in Chicago on August 1, 1892. Lindly passed the Iowa Board of Pharmacy examinations in 1888 and was also registered in Arkansas in 1904.

He was an active member of the Iowa State Pharmaceutical Association, chairing many committees and delegations. Lindly was also a charter member of the Alumni Association Pharmaceutical Department at the University of Iowa, in 1897, and served as president from 1899 to 1900. He was very involved in state and local affairs. He was the cashier and later president of the Bank of Winfield, which was established by his father, and he owned Lindly’s Drug Store. He was elected mayor of Winfield in an unopposed election in 1900, but declined the office. Lindly did however serve on the local school board and he was the town clerk for two years. He was also a Democratic state senator early in the century, and was a delegate to many state and national political conventions.