JOHN D. BALLANTYNE

BALLANTYNE

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/22/2020 at 14:16:32

JOHN D. BALLANTYNE, of section 27, Prescott township (postoffice Corning), is one of the intelligent, [enterprising] and successful farmers of that township, and has made his home there since the spring of 1876. He was born near Glasgow, Scotland, February 4, 1840, the son of James Ballantyne, a native of Scotland, who married Ellen Douglas. In 1843 the family settled at Smith's Falls, Canada.

Mr. Ballantyne, whose name introduces this sketch, was reared a farmer's boy. In 1861 he came to Davenport, Iowa, and two years later he moved to Poweshiek county, this State, where he finally died at the age of eighty-two years. He was a farmer all his life and in religious sentiment a Presbyterian. His widow, who survives him, lives in Brooklyn and is now eighty-three years old. They reared four sons and five daughters. One son, Andrew, lives in Quincy township. In 1876 Mr. Ballantyne came to Adams county and purchased wild prairie land at $10 per acre; he now owns one of the best farms in Prescott township, consisting of 180 acres. His dwelling is 16 x 30 feet in ground area and one and a half stories high, with an L fourteen feet square. The residence is located on a natural building site, surrounded by a grove and orchard of two or three acres of small fruits, and there are good stables and other improvements all in good order. His cattle are of the Polled Angus breed, and his horses are of a high-grade draft.

In politics Mr. Ballantyne is a Republican, zealous and able in the defense of his party. He, and his wife and two daughters are members of the Presbyterian Church of Corning.

Mr. Ballantyne was first married to Miss Caroline, daughter of Elihu and Henrietta Adams, and had one child, Anna, who died in childhood. He afterward married Hester De Pencier, March 6, 1871. She was a daughter of Uriah and Hannah (Eastman) De Pencier, natives of Leeds county, Canada. By the present marriage there are four children; Nettie, a successful school teacher; Ella D., Edson and Harry.