William Ballard Lenoir (1775–1852;Lenoir Family Papers also given as 1781-1855David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University) was known as a businessman and politician in what is now known as Lenoir City, Tennessee, where he moved in the early nineteenth century. He had served in the militia and reached the rank of major. Lenoir founded mills along the Tennessee River, including one to process and weave cotton produced in the region. He and his father General William Lenoir, who had originally been granted the land tract, were both namesakes of the town.
