John Ballantyne was born in 1784, Roxburghshire, Scotland to Thomas and Janette Ingles Ballantyne. He married Jenette (Janet) Turnbull June 3, 1808 in Selkirkshire, Scotland. They had 11 children born in Scotland: Helen (Ellen), Thomas, Janet (Jennett) (Jessie), Andrew, Mary, Margaret, Jane, William, James, Robert and Sarah. Some information is contained in the children's memorials, except Sarah. She was born and married in Scotland.

The family joined the Latter Day Saints in Scotland and came with a group of LDS to the U.S. on the ship "Tyrian" which landed in New Orleans the latter part of October, 1841. They went up the Mississippi River to Warsaw where they were not well received so they went on to Nauvoo, Illinois where LDS settled and built a temple. After Joseph Smith was murdered at Navoo they spent one winter at LaCrosse, Wisconsin where their son, Thomas, took pneumonia and died. Sarah and her husband found work in St. Louis on the way up the river and never went to Nauvoo.

Lyman Wight split from Brigham Young and with a a group of about 150 people headed for Texas traveling by boat down the Mississippi then overland by wagons drawn by oxen. John walked the entire way from Wisconsin to Texas. In 1846 they established a grist mill near Austin where John got pneumonia and died. He was buried on a hillside that would now be on the Capitol Grounds of Austin, Texas.

Information on John was taken from his biography in the "History of Monona County, IA, 1890" by National Publishing Co. His son James from Jordan Township was on the committee for writing the book. Marriage records from Selkirk Parish, Selkirkshire, Scotland LDS film #102277. Death details from a letter written by his granddaughter, Rachel Ballantyne.