William K. Ballantyne
William K. Ballantyne, who has been identified with the industrial activities of Cincinnati since 1903, being a member of the firm of Selser & Ballantyne, is a native of Pennsylvania. He was born in Easton, Lehigh County, on the 17th of April 1865, and is a son of William G. and Ellen (Freeland) Ballantyne. His father was engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Easton for several years, but later became an agent for the Warren Foundry & Machine Company, of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, with offices located at Elizabeth, New Jersey. His brothers, Robert, James and Thomas, were veterans of the Civil War. The Ballantyne family is of Scotch origin, the grandfather having immigrated from Peebleshire, Scotland, to the United States in the early ‘20s. William G. Ballantyne passed away on the 26th of July 1905, at the age of seventy-four, and was laid to rest in the cemetery at Easton, Pennsylvania. The mother still survives and continues to make her home at Elizabeth, New Jersey.
The boyhood and youth of William K. Ballantyne were spent in Easton, Pennsylvania, and Elizabeth, New Jersey, his education being acquired in the public schools of the latter place, which he attended until he was seventeen. In 1882 he took a position as stock clerk with the firm of Rose, McAlpin & Company, who were engaged in the leather business. He was identified with them for five years; withdrawing he went to Philadelphia to take a position as traveling salesman with Mitchell & Peirson. Eight years thereafter he resigned leaving their service in order to become identified with McDermott & Howard in a similar capacity. He terminated his connection with the latter company that he might become identified with the business in which he has ever since been engaged in Cincinnati. They are dealers in leather and cotton goods for the shoe manufacturing trade. Their warehouse and main offices are located at 232 East Eighth Street, Cincinnati, where they have been established since 1903.
Mr. Ballantyne was married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of June 1905, to Miss. Grace Ringwald. To Mr. and Mrs. Ballantyne have been born three children: Robert Ringwald, who was born on the 7th of August, 1906; Rosalie, who was born on the 24th of March 1908; and Eleanor Freeland, whose birth occurred on the 27th of November 1909. The family home is located at No. 3415 Stettinius Avenue, Hyde Park, where Mr. Ballantyne has erected a very pleasant and attractive residence.
The religious faith of the family is manifested through their affiliation with the Seventh Presbyterian Church, while politically he is a Republican. Mr. Ballantyne has met with very satisfactory returns from the enterprise with which he is connected, and is recognized as one of the able businessmen of the Queen City.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912