Ballantyne
June 29, 2006
The history of this name is on it’s way – do you know anything about the origin of the ballantyne or ballantine family name. If you do then leave a comment below.Ok this is what we know so far…
The Clan Ballantyne or Bannatyne are originally from Bellenden, Selkirkshire, Scotland, and descended from Patrick Bellenden who received a charter from the Earl of Morton in 1499 for lands in Auchinoul, Midlothian. Roland Bannatyne of Glenraddy also received lands in the barony of Sanquhar from Lord Crichton in 1548.
Ballantyne Coat of Arms: Quarterly, 1st and 4th, gules, a chevron argent between three mullets or (for Bannatyne); 2nd and 3rd, azure, a castle triple towered argent, masoned sable, windows and portcullis shut gules, in dexter chief a mullet or (for Macleod).
Ballantyne Crest: A demi griffin, in the dexter paw a sword erect all proper.
Ballantyne Supporters: (Barons of Sanquhar only) Two angels proper, habited azure and winged or.
Ballantyne Motto: Nec cito nec tarde. “neither fast nor slow”
Ballantyne Surname Origin
Local
A place of ancient pagan worship among the Celts, whose principal deity was Belen or Baal, the sun. To the honor of this deity, the Celts lighted fires on the 1st of May and Midsummer day. Baalantine signifies “the fire of Baal,” from Baalen and teine, Gaelic, fire.
Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import; Arthur, William, M.A.; New York, NY: Sheldon, Blake, Bleeker & CO., 1857.
March 28, 2007 at 5:56 pm
My Grandfather’s name was George Ballantyne.
My Grandmother’s name was Sarah Mcjanet.
I only know their names, I have no family history nor background past that, I have just started looking.
July 24, 2007 at 3:42 am
Just found this site. My husband’s grandfather was b. Galashiels, SCT. He came to Galt, Ont. with his parents, John and Janet (Turnbull) Ballantyne in 1867. We have John’s watch when leaving Galashiels to become Supt. of a woolen mill in Galt, Ont. I also have the sampler made by Janet in 1848 when she was 8 years old. We visited SCT in the 1990’s. I would like to correspond with you.
September 24, 2007 at 12:54 am
Well thank you so much for that informative write down. My grandparents are Wayne Ballantyne and Katherine Pugh and my great grandparents are Gibbie and Millie Ballantyne.
December 8, 2007 at 7:57 pm
I am a direct decendant of William Ballantyne, weaver of Galashiels b. 1650 whose family were originally from Bellandean between Selkirk and Hawick. I am from Walkerburn in the Scottish Borders and Henry Ballantyne who founded the village of Walkerburn in 1854. I still live in Scotland though not in the Borders
December 20, 2007 at 9:47 pm
I am a direct descendant from George Bannatyne through his daughter, and only surviving child, Janett Bannatyne who married George Foulis, the first Laird of Ravelstoun, in 1603.
I would like to get in touch with the present leading member of the Family of the Bannatyne in order to discuss a hand-written copy of the “Memorial Buik of George Bannatyne Anno 1582″, made by Andrew Grieve, Writer to the Signet and Notary Public,dated 1839, which I hold since the death of my brother, the 13th Baronet of Colinton, Iain Primrose Liston Foulis,in February 2006.
This marvellous book contains entries of the family Bannatyne dating from 1512, with a reference to the birth of James Bannatyne of Kirktoun of Newtyle on the third day of May, 1512, and later that of his “bairns, betwixt him and Katherine Taillefeir,” beginning with his eldest son, “Laurence Bannatyne on the 14th day of September, the year of God, 1539.”
After the marriage of Janett to George Foulis of Ravelstone, the book passed into the hands of the Foulis family, where it supposedly remained until 1839?.
I would be most interested to know more about the original “Memorial Buik”and would appreciate hearing from any member of the family who may wish to contact me, in order to know more.
In the copy which I hold it continues with entries of births, deaths and marriages of both the Foulis of Woodhall and the Foulis of Ravelstoun families and their branches.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Susan Liston Foulis.
April 9, 2008 at 5:05 pm
My Grandparents names are:
Andrew Ballantyne
Lily Alston.
I’m currently researching family history and I know it goes back to 15th century… so if you are doing the same, keep me updated, see if there are ties!
will write again when I have more information
Sharon
April 28, 2008 at 1:06 am
Hi Sharon
i just came across your posting will researching the family crest. my great grandmothers name is Lily however this is the only information that my family has as my grandfather Joseph Ballantyne came to Australia and his brother Matthew ballantyne came as well around the same time. to the best of my knowledge joseph had to other brothers being David and James however there is a big question make over the exact details, I do know that one of the brothers moved to the USA. the name Lily was found on my grandfathers army records as the next of kin, however there is no last name ect.
as you can see i am at very much of a loss and really struggling to get any further mainly due to the lack of information to start with, there may be no link at all but it is worth a shot and i really do look forward to hearing from you to give me either good or bad news.
Ray
June 18, 2009 at 1:10 am
Hi there,
This post is quite old now so I’m not sure if you will get this. James Ballantyne came out from the Orkneys some time around the mid 1800’s to New Zealand, Otago to be more precise. I know he had a brother who went to Australia, and another who settled in Canada. We have since settled in Australia and we have a family member looking into our geneaology, I would be interested to hear of anyone who has any futher info.
Regards Pete Ballantyne.
July 5, 2008 at 3:37 pm
personally i am not so much as interested in the history of my family as to where they all are now, i was born in Glasgow, the family i know of or whats left of them were from Argyll areas and Clydebank, Dalmuir like me most have moved to where i have no idea, my gran tells me of family in Australia, Canada the U.S. and Newzeland. My mothers side came from Crawford from much the same areas, my father C.W. Ballantyne, eldest son of H Ballantyne who was the eldest son of his father by the same name again the eldest son of his family, My grand mother from Anderson and ironically the family name is also Anderson, i know practically nothing of my mothers family and very little of my own, so I’m curious to find more of where i come from and where the other family is now. Anyone interested, please leave a not and i can give a little more in depth information. Thank you, in the tradition of the motto i will render an update to it and part for now leaving it with you, “To all things a time and all things in their time”.
May 9, 2009 at 2:42 am
hi colin i was reading through all this and found your comment,my name is Daniel Ballantyne and im from New Zealand and Australia.i dont know what to expect to find or have anything useful to offer you.the best thing i can do i suppose is get a copy of my gran dads bio or i can just ask him he only stays up the road lol but at the mo i dont know that much thats why im online looking.my curiousity seems to have lead me on a bit of an adventure so to speak.i have left a comment so if you wanna contact me or have any question please feel free to contact me.
December 1, 2009 at 3:32 am
Hi Colin
My brother is the last of the Ballantyne/Andersons in Sydney Australia and live near Manly. I am 99% sure our family history goes back to Glasgow.
My great great grandfather and grand mother built a house on Little Manly beach which they named Ballander, Ballantyne/Anderson. I really don’t have any other information other than my grandfathers name was John but was called Jack and my Nanas name was Jessie Chestnut. I will find out more information from my family.
October 13, 2008 at 12:22 am
Hi Grandpa!!!!!!!!!!!=)
April 16, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Hey i have traced my roots to Andrew Graham ballendan, Bannatyne. He moved to canada from the South rolandsay islands scotland, I was wondering if anyone else had roots from the south rolandsay
May 9, 2009 at 2:31 am
wow i look up my family name out of curiousity and i find this lol my name is Daniel Ballantyne,i have no useful information but i thought id throw the lil i know on here.i am of maori,scottish and irish decent so of course i love fighting lol i was born in new zealand and have spent half my life there and the other here in brisbane australia where i live now.my father is Dennis john Ballantyne and his father my gran dad Dennis frances Ballantyne who fought for Australia in the second world war and my great gran dad fought in the first but for who i dont know yet.i also have Ballantyne relatives living in the gold coast.um and thats all i got for now.just thought id put in my 5 cents.it was good to find so much information about my family,i hope i find more.
May 13, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I am a Balentine who currently lives in the States. I don’t know much of the history of my father’s side of the family any further back than my grandparents and great uncle, who both fought for the U.S. in WWII.
August 24, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Greeting to the gathering of the clans,
A little additional history of the Clan Ballantyne
We are a sept (blood kin) of the Stewarts of Bute
definition of clan “social group consisting of an aggregate of distinct erected families actually descended, or accepting themselves as descendants of a common ancestor” (Nisbet’s “System of Heraldry”, published in 1722) The name Ballantyne is listed as the sept name. The name Bannatyne is not listed as a sept of the Stewarts of Bute; however, the name Bannatyne is listed as a sept of the Campbell Clan. Unfortunately, the Campbell Clan under the Duke of Argyll fought against the Stewarts during the Jacobite Uprisings so we who spell our name Ballantyne make a distinct separation between us and the Bannatynes. We were one family at one time, but split apart due to the Jacobite uprising in the 1700s (old wounds run deep). Because we are a sept of the Stewarts of Bute, we are able to trace our ancestry back to Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland. Another very interesting note is that the Ballantyne Clan may be the oldest clan in Scotland and may also be descended from the line of kings of Scotland. Our ancestoral home and castle are on the Isle of Bute. The Stewarts also built their ancestral home on the same island, it is called Mount Stuart (Stuart is the french spelling of Stewart, Mary Queen of Scots changed it when she moved to France, but the Scottish spelling remains Stewart.) “Mount Stuart is Britain’s most astounding Victorian gothic mansion. Home to the Stuarts of Bute, descendants of the Royal House of Stuart, this magnificent house sits proudly on the Isle of Bute – ancient stronghold of Scottish kings.” I can only guess at how important incorporating the Ballantyne Clan into the Stewart Clan must have been to help legitimize the Stewarts claim to the scotish throne. Unfortunately, we do not have access to the history of Clan Ballantyne before we became part of the Stewart Clan; however it warms my heart to know that we have continued to be able to be a part of the House of Stewart/Stuart and that the current chief of Clan Stuart of Bute is John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute.
I hope that this information is helpful to my fellow clansmen.
Sincerely, A Nelson Ballantyne
November 30, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I am Thomas (Tommy) Ballantyne.
My father was Robert Ballantyne who left Scotland in the early 1920s to work in Colombia, South America for Tropical Oil Company, a subsidiary of International Petroleum Company – later ESSO and now Exxon. His father was Thomas Ballantyne and lived in Blackburn, West Lothian and was a coal miner as were most men in the area at that time. I emigrated with my family in 1952 to Rhodesia after passing my Scottish Higher Leaving Certificate at West Calder High School. My brother is James Hogg Ballantyne who lives in Limekilns, Fife to this day. My mother was Margaret Hogg whose father, James Hogg, played for Hibernian FC and whose brother George Hogg, captained Hearts of Midlothisn FC at the turn of the last century – 1899-1902. I played soccer for Rhodesia many times in the 1950s and 60s against touring English and Scottish first division sides such as Leicester City, West Ham, Blackpool, Dundee United, Oldham Athletic, etc. I would be interested to hear from any Ballantyne’s who may still be alive and related to me in Blackburn or West Calder. Most may also have emigrated to Canada and Australia I believe.
Thomas (Tommy) Ballantyne