James Franklin Doughty Lanier, Sr.

https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/lanier-james-franklin

Few men, if any, have reflected more honor upon Indiana than Mr. J. F. D. Lanier, though not a native of the State. Through a long life he was regarded as one of the ablest financiers of the country.

On two different occasions, at the solicitation of the Government, he visited the money centers of Europe to induce the capitalists of the old world to ivest in our Government securities, and both time met with great success.

In the dark days of the Union, when gold had mounted up until it was almost unpurchasable with out currency; when it looked as if the South might eventually wear out the courage and endurance of the North, and the Government was struggling everywhere to secure the means whereby the enormous expenses of prosecuting the war might be met, bonds were offered on the market. They found a ready sale in this country, but foreign capitalosts were afraid of them. In 1865, as the war was coming rapidly to a close, Mr. Lanier was about to visit Europe. The secretary of the Treasury requested him to act on behalf of the Government, in setting forth to the moneyed men of England and the continent, the debt of the United States, and her resources. On his arrival at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, he was invited to address a meeting of bankers and capitalists. He did so, setting forth the great resources of the United States in such a strong and convincing light that there was no longer any hesitancy on their part in investing in our bonds. His address was published in English and German by the papers and windely circulated. For the ability thus displayed, and the success attending his efforts, Mr. lanier received the thanks of the Government.

Three years later - 1868 he was again requested by the Secretary of the Treasury to speak for the Government abroad, in aid of an effort to float a five precent bond, and equal success attended his efforts.

His first trip to Europe was in behalf of the State of Indiana. In 1847 the State of Indiana was practically bankrupt. She had burdened herself with a large bet for the purpose of carrying out a great scheme of internal improvements, and for several years had defaulted the interest upon her bonds. By this course her credit had been destroyed and the prosperity of the State seriously checked. Most of the bonds were held in Europe, and the holders were clamorous for the payment of the payment of the interest, and the State was out of funds. The Legislature passed an act on 27 January 1847 for the settlement of the bonds ona new basis. Mr. Lanier was selected to proceed to Europe and lay the proposition before the bondholders. He was supplied with the new bonds, or certificates of State stock, with which to take up the old bonds, and was given the power to transfer the Wabash and Erie canal, and the lands belonging to the State, to the Trustees selected for that purpose. The certificates of State Stock were all duly signed, but the amounts and names of the parties were left blank to be filled by Mr. Lanier. His mission was successful, and the load of debt was lifted in such a way that Indiana at once entered upon an era of prosperity.

Mr. Lanier was born in Washington, North Carolina, November 22, 1800. He was an ancestor of Thomas Lanier, a french Huguenot and his ancestors fled from France on the revocation of the edict of Nantes. By intermarriage they became connected with the Washington family. One ancestor married a sister of John Washington, the first first of the family to come to America, while another married a sister of Mary the mother of George.

His grand father, James Lanier served in the Revolutionary War and fought with General Wayne in his campaign against Indiana on the Maumee. He had emigrated to Tennessee and later to Kentucky. In 1807 his father, Alexander Chalmers Lanier removed to Ohio, and freed his slaves. He served in the War of 1812, attaining the rank of Major; and in 1817, removed to Madison, Jefferson county, Indiana, where he conducted a store until his death in 1820. His father was unsuccessful in business and died insolvent, but his son, afterward, from his own accumulations paid all the debts in full.

James F. D. Lanier received his education in Eaton, Ohio.; an academy at Newport, Ky. and at Madison, where has, as he says "for a year and a half, the almost inestimable advantage of a private school taught by a very superior person from the Eastern states" - presumably Rev. Wm. Robinson, a Presbyterian missionary who located there in 1810, and conducted a private school, in addition to founding the first Sunday school and the first Presbyterian church.

At Madison in 1819 Lanier began reading law in the office of Gen. Alexander A. Meek, and concluded his studies at the Transylvania Law Scol in Kentucky, were he graduated from in 1823. He soon commanded a good practice, and his income from that was supplemented by receiving, in 1824, the appointment of Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives, a position he held for three years, when he was made Principal clerk in 1827. His salary was $3.50 per day. While James F. D. Lanier was in law practice in Madison, Milton Stapp entered the law office and studied under him.

His purchase of the assets of the Farmers & Mechanic Bank was his first recorded financial venture, and probably started him on the career in which he was so phenomenally successful, and of so great service to the State and to the Nation.

On Decemebr 9, 1929 the State Temperance Society, auxiliary to the American Temperance Society was organized. at its first annual meeting on December 13, 1830, J. F. D. Lanier wa secretary.

In 1830 James F. D. Lanier was the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of Indiana at that time he was living in Madison and was a practicing lawyer.

In 1833, when the State Bank was organized, he became interested in that institution, being the largest individual stockholder. He was made president of the Madison Branch.

In 1836-7 - We find that he was issued several land patents for property around Lake Maxinkuckee in Marshall county, Indiana as follows:

James F. D. Lanier obtained the land patent of the North West quarter of Section fifteen which would of been 160 acres; also a part of this patent was the East half of the South quarter of Section 17 which would of been 80 acres for a total of 240 acres on 30 June 1837. With other land patents listed on this page James F. D. Lanier owned approximately 1129 10/100 acres of land around the lake.
James F D. Lanier obtained the land patent the North half of section thirty four which would of been approximately 118 79/100 acres; with this was the East half of the North East quarter of section thirty four which contained 80 acres for a total of 198 79/100 acres on 30 June 1837. With other land patents listed on this page James F. D. Lanier owned approximately 1129 10/100 acres of land around the lake.
James F. D. Lanier obtained a land patent for the Fractional Section Twenty seven. Acreage is undeterminable by the certificate for this piece of land. This patent also contained land in sections Twenty, Twenty one and Twenty eight for a total of 793 32/100 acres total.
James F. D. Lanier obtained a land patent for the Fractional section Twenty one. Acreage is undeterminable by the certificate for this piece of land. This patent also contained land in sections Twenty, Twenty seven and Twenty eight for a total of 793 32/100 acres total.
James F. D. Lanier obtained a land patent for the Fractional section Twenty eight. Acreage is undeterminable by the certificate for this piece of land. This patent also contained land in sections Twenty, Twenty one and Twenty seven for a total of 793 32/100 acres total.
These were are the full sections around the Lake excepting 4 the town section, the section awarded William Thompson and the Indian reservations.

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https://www.ncpedia.org/biography/lanier-james-franklin

James Franklin Doughty Lanier, financier, was born in Washington, Beaufort County, the son of Alexander Chalmers and Drusilla Doughty Lanier. On his paternal side he was of Huguenot descent, shared a common ancestor with George Washington, and was distantly related to the poet Sidney Lanier. His grandfather, James Lanier, was a captain in the light cavalry regiment commanded by Colonel William Washington in the Revolution; later he served under General Anthony Wayne in the campaign against the Indians of the Northwest Territory.

In 1807, after living briefly in Bourbon County, Ky., the Lanier family moved to Eaton, Preble County, Ohio, where Alexander Lanier freed his only two slaves; during the War of 1812, he served as a major under General William Harrison. In 1817 the family moved to Madison, Ind., where the father operated a dry goods store. In declining health, he died in 1820 leaving debts that young James F. D. Lanier eventually paid.

While the family lived in Eaton, Lanier was a student at the village school. Beginning in 1815, he attended an academy for a year and a half at Newport, Ky. When the family moved to Madison in 1817, he was offered, but declined, an appointment to West Point; instead, he attended a private school in Madison for a year and a half. In 1819 Lanier began the study of law in the office of General Alexander Meek in Madison, completing his education in law in 1823 at Transylvania University. Lanier set up a law practice in Madison in 1824 and was appointed assistant clerk of the Indiana House of Representatives, becoming chief clerk in 1827. During this time, he made many influential friends and amassed a considerable fortune in real estate investments.

In 1833 he retired from his law practice to assume the presidency of the Madison branch of the State Bank of Indiana, in which he was the principal individual stockholder. As president, he served on the state bank's Board of Control with Hugh McCulloch, later secretary of the U.S. Treasury. When the Madison bank successfully weathered the panic of 1837, Secretary of the Treasury Levi Woodbury praised Lanier's management and appointed him as pension agent for part of the north-western region.

After promoting railroad construction in Indiana, Lanier went to New York City in 1849; there he and Richard Winslow formed Winslow, Lanier and Company, a general banking business specializing in negotiating railroad securities. The firm prospered, and Lanier made extensive connections with prominent banking houses abroad. In 1865 and 1868, while abroad as an unofficial agent of the federal government, he used his connections to convince European banking houses of the financial stability of the government.

Lanier is best remembered for his financial support of Indiana during the Civil War. At the request of Republican Governor Oliver P. Morton, later a U.S. senator from Indiana, Lanier lent the state $400,000 to arm and equip troops and $640,000 to pay the interest on the state debt. The money was loaned without any security, but at the end of the war the legislature reimbursed Lanier the money plus interest.

In 1819, in Madison, Lanier married Elizabeth Gardner, by whom he had eight children. After her death in 1846, he married Mary McClure in 1848 and they had three children. His home in Madison, a sophisticated example of Greek Revival architecture designed by the noted architect Francis Costigan in 1844, is maintained as a museum by the state of Indiana. Lanier died in New York City and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery.