John H. Speed was born in James City County, Va., in 1826. He married Ellen Jane Edmondson in 1850 and worked as a clerk or merchant until enlisting in Company G, 3rd North Carolina Cavalry Regiment (also called the 41st North Carolina Troops) in 1861. The 1850 Halifax County, N.C., census shows that Speed lived in Edgecombe with his wife; his father-in-law, John Edmondson; Ann B., Lavenia, Danford, and William H. Edmondson; and Drew Jones. Speed's children were Kate, Sallie, Charlie, Johnnie, and a Dr. Speed, who settled in Speed, N.C., also in Edgecombe County. William H. Edmondson is likely the recently deceased Dr. Edmondson discussed in the June 1864 letter from J. S.(?) Pierre Gibson. A doctor prior to enlisting, Edmondson served in Company G, 12th North Carolina Infantry Regiment, and transferred to the 52nd Virginia Troops Regiment in 1863.
From the guide to the Edmondson and Speed Civil War Papers, 1864, (In the Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (#5105-z))
