James F. D. Lanier

James Franklin Doughty Lanier II (June 25, 1858 – May 16, 1928) and Sarah (née Eggleston) Lanier (1837–1898). Among his siblings was Sarah Eggleston Lanier, who married Francis C. Lawrance Jr. (parents of engineer Charles Lawrence and Kitty Lanier Lawrance who married W. Averell Harriman; Francis married Susan Ridgway Willing after Sarah's death); Fanny Lanier, who married Francis Randall Appleton; and Elizabeth Gardner Lanier, who married George Evans Turnure.

His maternal grandfather was Thomas Eggleston. His paternal grandparents were his namesake, James Franklin Doughty Lanier and Elizabeth (née Gardner) Lanier. In 1655, his ancestor, Thomas Lanier, a French Huguenot refugee, came to America accompanied by John Washington, the great-grandfather of President George Washington. Thomas, who settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia, married Washington's daughter, Anne Washington (1662–1697). when he was succeeded by his surviving son, Reginald. Conveniently, 400 was the number of people that could fit into Mrs. Astor's ballroom.

He was one of the founders of the Meadow Brook Hunt Club, and one of the first automobile drivers in America, strongly interested in motor touring and racing. He sold the home, which he had been renting to Clarence Mackay, in 1900 to Hamilton Cary for $100,000. The Laniers also spent summers at "Gravel Court", off of Clay Street, in Newport, Rhode Island.

Personal life In 1885, Lanier was married to Harriet Bishop (1866–1931). Harriet was the daughter of Heber R. Bishop. In early 1900, Lanier purchased two adjacent 1854 brownstones located between Park and Lexington Avenues in Murray Hill, for $31,000 which he torn down to build his family residence. In 1903, Lanier and his wife moved into the, now landmarked, home they had built at 123 East 35th Street in Murray Hill. The home was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Hoppin & Koen. Together, they were the parents of:

Charles Day Lanier (1886–1918), who died at the 2,000 Lanier Ranch in Sheridan, Wyoming. Reginald Bishop Lanier (1888–1979), who married Helen Cameron (d. 1987), granddaughter of Frederic W. Rhinelander, in 1921.

Upon his father's death in 1926, the elder Lanier left an estate valued at $9,677,364, the bulk of which was left to James and his siblings.

Lanier died on May 16, 1928, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in New York City. He was buried alongside his wife at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Upon his death, he left an estate valued at around $10,000,000 which was left to his son Reginald after his widow's death, in 1931.