The Biographical Dictionary of America/Ballantine, William Gay

BALLANTINE, William Gay, educator, was born in Washington, D. C., Dec. 7, 1848. He was graduated at Marietta college in 1868, and at the Union theological seminary. New York, in 1872. During 1869 and 1870, he acted as an assistant on the geological survey of Ohio. He studied at the University of Leipsic in 1872-73, and in the latter year spent six months with the American Palestine exploring expedition in the Holy Land. He served as professor of chemistry and natural science at Ripon college from 1874 to 1876; as assistant professor of Greek at Indiana university from 1876 to 1878; and as professor of Hebrew and Greek of the New Testament in Oberlin theological seminary from 1878 to 1880; and while acting in this capacity was ordained as a congregational clergyman. He was professor of old testament language and literature in Oberlin college from 1880 to 1891, and was president of Oberlin college from 1891 to 1896. He received the honorary degree of D. D. from Marietta college in 1885, and that of LL. D., from the Western Reserve university in 1891. He edited the Oberlin Jubilee (1833-83); was one of the editors of the Bibliotheca Sacra, 1884-’91, and in 1896 published "Inductive Logic."