He was a keen radical for the time, championing the preservation of human and public rights which led to the Reform Acts of 1836.

After his wife Seaton died young, Lauder became instrumental in the upbringing of his only son George and his nephew Andrew Carnegie.

[6] They affectionately referred to one another as "Dod" and "Naig" (respectively),[7] due to their mutual inability to fully say each other's names as young children.

After Andrew and his family left for America, George stayed in Scotland where he would go on to graduate from Glasgow University with a degree in mechanical engineering while studying under Lord Kelvin.

Lauder oversaw the design and construction of the first coal-washing machinery in the United States and would become industry-standard world-wide in the production of steel.

[5] Lauder would also go on to lead the development of the use of steel in armor and armaments which had been a business Carnegie balked at entering until President Benjamin Harrison personally appealed to him.

Lauder and Charles M. Schwab would spend significant time at the Krupp factory in Germany in 1886 before returning to build the massive armor plate mill at the Homestead Steel Works that would revolutionize warfare forever.

[1] After over thirty years as a senior member of the syndicate, Lauder was seen as the "balance wheel" for his moderate and cautious counsel and the lone "brake" for his often impulsive cousin Carnegie.

His first known patent was approved in 1875 for Improvements in Joints for Wrought-Iron Pipes which he assigned to himself and his cousin and partner Thomas Carnegie.

[13] Based on the timeline of patents, it appears that Lauder did not focus original technical thinking for the steel industry until the 1880s.

[15] This machine maximized the now extremely significant revenue source of materials that were previously considered waste of the steel production process.

[citation needed] Her ancestors include Joris Jansen Rapelje who was among the earliest settlers of New Netherland in 1623 and a member of the Council of Twelve Men—the first democratic institution in the future United States.

Still considered to be "...Greenwich, Conn.’s last Great Estate, an opulent robber baron-era property enveloping 50 prized acres along the tony New York suburb’s waterfront."