Dear Listmembers, Searching for information and parents of William BALLANTINE: I have hit the 'brick wall' with my immigrant ancestor, 6xGgrandfather, William BALLANTINE. He showed up in Boston ca. 1648-50, claimed to have been born in Ayr, Scotland,1627. He was a cooper, a respectable artisan. He then married the daughter of a prominant citizen, Hannah Hollard (Father was Angell Hollard, a shoemaker) after being in the area only 1-2 years. Tongues wagged and contemporaries could not trace his Ayr origins (neither can I) but they speculated that he may have really come from Glasgow and been a Jacobite sympathizer who needed to leave the Country quickly, as a civil war had recently been lost for that party's cause. Several parts of this story make it a bit creditable: 1) The Bannatyne family were a Sept of the Campbell's, rabid Covenenters 2) Bannatyne's were a one time Stewart sept, could William still hold Roman Catholic leanings? 3) Wouldn't a Cooper be more likely to be sent to a shipping town such as Glasgow, for his apprenticeship and practice of his trade? 4)Lack of evidence for birth in Ayr, slim, but people in the colonies did write frequently back and for across the pond. 5)The use of the name Ballantine at a time when most of this family used Bannatyne. Could this be a deliberate disguise? In short, It's possible that Wm.B. was born in Bute, sent to Glasgow and was provided with a means to escape by the Jacobites. If there is any record of his birth in Ayr, I would be grateful for that. I do know the family comes from Bute originally. Daphne Kilbourn-Jacob [email protected]