Aaron Balliet, the grandson of Stephen Balliet and his wife, Magdalena Burkhalter, and son of Stephen Balliet and his wife, Susan Ihrie, was born March 7, 1813, in Whitehall township, Lehigh Co., where his boyhood was passed. The advantages of education in the vicinity of his home being limited, he became a pupil of an excellent school at Milford, N. J., and later in his native State.

On returning to his borne, in 1837, Mr. J3alliet determined to follow an active business career, and erected in Carbon County a charcoal furnace, which he successfully operated for twenty years, after which he purchased the homestead at Ballietsville. In connection with other partners, he, in 1854, built a furnace at Coplay, the ownership of which has since passed into the hands of a company known as the Coplay Iron Company, in which he is a director. Mr. Balliet, on Aug. 21, 1845, married Sarah, daughter of John Dengler, of Carbon County. To this union were born eight children, two of whom died in childhood. Those who reached adult years were Francis, Julia (Mrs. Augustus Hollershoff), Ella (Mrs. A. Hollershoff), Emma (Mrs. O. P. Lampher), Anne (Mrs. O. E. Holman), and Susan Ida. Mr. Balliet was a second time married on March 6, 1867, to Miss Catharine, daughter of David Housman, of Whitehall Township, whose children are Aaron, Harvey, and Ada M.

Mr. Balliet, while devoting his attention to the manufacture of iron and the development of iron mines, has also been interested in farming occupations. He has always been either a Whig or a Republican in politics, and has served as justice of the peace, school director, and in various minor capacities. He is a member of the German Reformed Church of Unionsville, which he aided materially in building.