Speed Family Papers – Farmington Collection, 1816-1961

Held by The Filson Historical Society

Creator: Speed family

Title: Papers – Farmington Collection, 1816-1961

Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Curator of Special Collections.

Size of Collection: 0.33 cubic feet

Locator Number: Mss. A S742e

Biographical Note

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 1808. In 1810, Speed bought land in Jefferson County, Kentucky along Beargrass Creek, which would become a hemp plantation named Farmington. Lucy and John had eleven children: Thomas, Lucy Fry, James, Peachy Walker, Joshua Fry, William Pope, Susan Fry, Philip, John Smith, Martha Bell, and Ann Pope (Ann died in childhood.) 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 27 th Kentucky Volunteers during the Civil War. Lucy Fry Speed married James D. Breckinridge, a Congressman from Kentucky. Philip Speed married Emma Keats, niece of the famous author, John Keats. 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.

Judge John Speed’s brother, Thomas, settled in Bardstown, Kentucky. His son, Thomas Spencer Speed, corresponded regularly with Peachy Speed Peay and other members of the Speed family. Thomas Spencer Speed had three children with his first wife, Sarah Whitney Sparhawk, and five children with his second wife, Margaret Hawkins. He named one son after Peachy Speed’s husband, Austin Peay.

Scope and Content Note

This collection consists of material collected by the Farmington Historic Home in the mid-twentieth century. The collection contains of letters written by and between members of the Speed family, including Judge John Speed, Peachy Speed Peay and Eliza Speed, James Speed, Joshua Fry Speed, Thomas Speed, Eliza Peay Ward, her husband, John H. Ward, and her father-in-law, William T. Ward. Also included is some limited genealogy and biographical information on the Speed and Ward families, deeds for the sale for land owned by John Speed and inherited by his children. Miscellaneous material includes a pamphlet entitled, Address of Honorable James Speed Before the Society of the Loyal Legion of Cincinnati, a pamphlet from the memorial for Thomas Speed, a stock certificate for the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad, a memoir written by Eliza Peay Ward remembering stories told to her by her grandmother, Lucy Gilmer Speed, and calling cards of Thomas Jefferson, undated.

Separated material

A book of verses by George M. Davie, originally owned by Thomas Speed, was transferred to The Filson Library. A newspaper article pasted in back of book has been copied and placed in folder 13 with the remainder of the newspaper articles in this collection.

Folder List

Folder 1: John Speed Correspondence, 1816-1836

Folder 2: Joshua Fry Speed Correspondence, 1840-1841

Folder 3: Eliza Speed Correspondence, 1840-1854

Folder 4: Peachy Speed Peay and Eliza Peay Ward Correspondence, 1847-1866

Folder 5: James Speed Correspondence, 1848-1866

Folder 6: Thomas Speed Correspondence, 1841-1872

Folder 7: John Hardin Ward Correspondence, 1863-1885

Folder 8: William T. Ward Correspondence, 1853-1866

Folder 9: Miscellaneous Correspondence of other Speed family members, 1849-1886

Folder 10: Correspondence relating to the Farmington Historical Home, 1959-1961

Folder 11: Legal Papers, 1844-1867

Folder 12: Newspaper Articles, 1906-1960

Folder 13: Genealogy and family history of the Speed and Ward families

Folder 14: Miscellaneous Material, 1853-1906, undated

Folder 15: Oversize, 1829

Subject Headings

Bramlette, Thomas E. (Thomas Elliott), 1817-1875

Cholera – Kentucky – Louisville

Courtship

Farmington (Louisville, Ky.)

Grief

Jefferson, Thomas, 1743-1826

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Lind, Jenny, 1820-1887

Rousseau, Lovell Harrison, 1818-1869

Slavery – Kentucky

Speed family

Speed, James, 1812-1887

Speed, John, 1772-1840

Speed, Joshua F. (Joshua Fry), 1814-1882

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865

United States – History – Civil War, 1861-1865 – African Americans

United States. Army – African American troops

United States. Army. Kentucky Infantry Regiment, 27th (1861-1864)

Ward family

Ward, J.H. (John Hardin), 1835-1908

Ward, William Thomas, 1808-1878

Weddings – Kentucky

Women – Education – Kentucky