Stephen Decatur Lindsey was born in Norridgewock, Maine on March 3, 1828.
He attended public schools and Bloomfield Academy, after which he studied law and was admitted to the bar. He began to practice in Norridgewock in 1853, serving as a member of the Maine House of Representatives in 1856.
He was a member of the State Senate from 1868 to 1870 serving as its President in 1869.
Twice a delegate to the Republican National Convention he was a member of the Executive Council in 1874 before being elected to three terms in the United States Congress, being elected as a Republican to the Forty-fifth, Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1877 to March 3, 1883).
He chose not to run again for public office and returned to Norridgewock to a successful law practice.
He died in his home town on April 26, 1884, the victim of a heart attack at the age of fifty-six.