An Illustrated History of the State of Washington, by Rev. H.K. Hines, D.D., The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago, IL., 1893, page 453-454 CAPTAIN WILLIAM R. BALLARD, president of the Seattle Savings Bank, and prominently connected with other financial institutions of Seattle, was born in Richland county, Ohio, August 12, 1847. His father, Dr. Levi W. Ballard, a native of New Hampshire, was educated in New England and from there removed to Ohio, where he followed his profession and where he was married to Miss Phoebe McConnell, of that State. Mrs. Ballard died in 1848, leaving two children, Irving and William R, who were taken and cared for by their grandparents. In 1851 Dr. Ballard crossed the plains to California, mined one year and then returned to Ohio. In 1853 he again crossed the plains, this time coming to Oregon and locating at Portland, where he engaged in the practice of his profession until the fall of 1855. The following winter he was in the Indian war, acting as surgeon in the Rogue river valley. In 1856 he returned East, and in the spring of 1857 was married, in New Jersey, to Miss Mary Condit his children then joined him and they started for the. Pacific coast, embarking from New York on the old steamer Northern Light for Aspinwall, thence by the Isthmus to Panama, where they took passage on the Brother Jonathan, landing in Portland in March, 1857. Dr. Ballard located a farm near Roseburg, Oregon, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits and also in the practice of his profession up to 1861. Then he moved to Wilbur, Oregon, to give his children the educational advantages of Umpqua College. In 1865 he moved to the Sound country and purchased 160 acres of land, on a portion of which he laid off the town of Slaughter in 1887, and there he still resides. William R. Ballard was educated in the public schools of Rosenburg, and at the Umpqua College, where he completed an academic course. Removing with his parents to the Sound country, he then spent three years at home, rendering his strength in the reclamation of a farm in the midst of a wild and undeveloped country. In 1868 he entered the University of Washington and passed one year in study, and then began teaching school in King, and later Pierce and Thurston counties. Evincing a natural aptness for mathematics, his attention was turned to surveying, which he followed during the summer of 1873 in Pierce county, and, becoming so proficient in that line of work he secured a contract in 1874 to survey the Yakima Indian Reservation. Upon completing his work, some complication arose in regard to the payment therefor, necessitating his going to Washington, District Columbia, in 1875, where he passed the winter in securing a settlement. Returning to Seattle, he then accepted the position of mate on the steamer Zephyr, owned by his brother, and engaged in the passenger service between Seattle and Olympia. In the fall of 1877 he was made captain of the vessel, in 1881 became part owner, and in 1883 sole owner. He continued running the steamer until June, 1887, when be sold out. He had conducted a large and profitable business, and through the judicious in vestment of his profits he laid the foundation of his handsome fortune. One of the most fortunate investments Captain Ballard made was in 1883, when he associated himself with Judge Thomas Burke and John Leary in the purchase of 700 acres of land bordering on Salmon bay, upon which is now located that prosperous suburb of Seatt1e known as Ballard. In 1877 they organized the West Coast Improvement Company, Captain Ballard becoming vice president and manager, and they began clearing the above tract, and in 1889 placed it upon the market, with the town site platted and subdivided. Through the judicious subsidizing of manufactories and milling interests, they have established a prosperous manufacturing community of some 2,500 population. The work incident to the management of this company has largely occupied his time and attention up to the present, though he has been active in other directions. He was one of the organizers of the Seattle National Bank, which began business in February, 1890, with a capital of $250,000, of which he has since been vice president and manager. This banking company has erected on the corner of South Second street and Yesler avenue a six-story stone and brick building, one of the finest bank buildings on the Pacific coast. He is also president of the Seattle Savings Bank and the First National Bank, of Waterville, and is one of the directors of the North End Bank, Seattle, and the Fairhaven National Bank. Captain Ballard is also vice president of the West Street and North End Electric Railway Company, and a large stockholder and director of the Terminal Railway and Elevator Company. He was married in Seattle in 1882, to Miss Estella Thorndyke, of Maine. They had five children, one son, Stanly, being the survivor. Captain Ballard affiliates with the F. & A.M. In business affairs of Seattle he occupies a position of prominence and responsibility. Being a man of excellent judgment, progressive in his ideas, and of great public spirit, he is justly conceded to be among the foremost of Seattle's most successful men. Submitted to the WA. Bios Project in October 2003 by Jeffrey L. Elmer * * * * Notice: These biographies were transcribed for the Washington Biographies Project. 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