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