James W. Ballantine

James W. Ballantine (February 15, 1839 – January 5, 1907) was an American politician and merchant in Pennsylvania and Idaho.

Biography Ballantine was born on February 15, 1839, in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Nathaniel and Sarah Wallace Ballantine, who had immigrated from Scotland in 1825. He assisted his merchant father in his business until he enlisted in the 9th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment in April 1861. After the 9th regiment mustered out in May 1864, he enlisted in the 193rd Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He served with the Army of the Potomac for three years, received a gunshot wound to the thigh, and was captured at and held captive for two months following the Second Battle of Bull Run. After the end of the Civil War, he returned to Pennsylvania and engaged in the oil refining business near Pittsburgh until 1883. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Republican for the 1872 and 1873 terms, representing Allegheny County.

As the Pennsylvania oil rush petered out and Standard Oil consolidated power in the industry, Ballantine followed the gold rush out of the Idaho Territory's Wood River Valley in 1883. After two years of managing the mining and smelting operations of a company, he turned his attention to mine investment and cattle ranching, becoming one of the most prominent merchants in the region. In 1889, he was selected to represent Alturas County at the Idaho Constitutional Convention, serving as a Republican, and he is a signatory of the state constitution. In 1892, he switched his political allegiance to the Populist Party, and was elected to the Idaho House of Representatives to represent Alturas County. He retired from that body in 1894, having received the Populist nomination for governor. He came in second in that race, losing to incumbent William J. McConnell. In 1896, he was elected to the Idaho Senate to represent newly formed Blaine County.

Ballantine did not stand for reelection in 1898, but was again elected as the state senator for Blaine County in 1900 and 1902. He served as president pro tempore of that body for the 1901–1902 session. Ballantine was selected as a delegate to the national Populist convention in 1900 and he received the party's nomination for governor in July of that year, but he withdrew from the election in order to fuse the Populists' ticket with the Democrats' ticket. He was the Democratic candidate for mayor of Bellevue in 1904, losing by one vote, and again in 1905, winning by one vote. He was a delegate to his new party's national convention in 1904, and he became a member of the Democratic state committee in 1906. In 1906, he was a delegate to the National Irrigation Congress, and he was president of the Bellevue State Bank when it opened that December.

Ballantine married Lena McIntyre in 1865, and they had one daughter, Carrie, who died before they came to Idaho.

Electoral history 1892

1894

1896

1900

1902

1906