The Speed family is one of the oldest and most prominent families in Louisville, Kentucky. Judge John Speed (1772-1840) moved to Kentucky with his family when he was ten years old. His first marriage to Abby Lemaster resulted in two children, Mary and Eliza. After Abby's death, John Speed married Lucy Gilmer Fry. In 1810, Speed bought land in Jefferson County, Kentucky along Beargrass Creek, where he began his hemp plantation and built a home he named Farmington. Lucy and John had eleven children: Thomas, Lucy Fr,, James, Peachy Walker, Joshua Fry, William Pope, Susan Fry, Philip, John Smith, Martha Bell, and Ann Pope. The Speed children married prominently, and gained high-standing political connections. Peachy Speed Peay's daughter, Eliza, married Colonel John Hardin Ward, who served with the 27th Kentucky Volunteers during the Civil War. Joshua Fry Speed roomed with Abraham Lincoln as a young man in Springfield, Illinois, and Lincoln became a close family friend. James Speed was a lawyer and politician whom Abraham Lincoln appointed as Attorney General of the United States.
From the description of Speed family papers Farmington Collection (Filson Historical Society, The). WorldCat record id: 213374267
