Author: CAPT William Goodwin Speed Jr.
Lieutenant James Speed P-294753 (1739-1811)
James Speed, second child of nine surviving siblings, was a son of John Bernard Speed (1713- 1785) and Mary Minetry Taylor (1714- 1782). He was born 4 March 1739, in what was then Brunswick (and present-day Mecklenburg) County, Virginia, British Colonial America. He was second generation American-born of an English immigrant grandfather who farmed tobacco in Surrey County, Virginia. He was raised on a prosperous farm by well-educated, home-schooled parents.
While single, he reportedly served in the Virginia Militia before and during the British Empire’s involvement in the Seven Years War (also known as the French and Indian War in North America).
In 1765, James’ father John, a prosperous landowner, was made part of the first government of the newly formed Mecklenburg County and was a County Judge until 1785. John was designated a Revolutionary War Patriot (NSDAR ancestor A108096/NSSAR Ancestor P-294753) for service in the American War of Independence on the Virginia Committee of Safety. An active patriot, John had a least four sons who have been recognized for their patriotic service (by NSDAR and NSSAR).
James, a veteran, land owner and farmer in his own right, married Mary Spencer (1742- 1829) 10 December 1767, at Charlotte Court House, Charlotte County, Virginia. Mary Spencer was one of ten children of Colonel Thomas Spencer (~1711- 1793) and Elizabeth Julia Flournoy (1721- 1793) of Charlotte County, Virginia. Mary’s father was a Revolutionary War Patriot (NSDAR ancestor #A107142), for service as member of the Charlotte County Committee of Safety in 1775, he also served in the Virginia Militia as an officer. James and Mary had their first of seven surviving children in October 1768.
His great-grandson wrote that James “…was well educated, had a strong business sense, and great energy. He had a ready wit, wrote well, and was fond of writing humorous poetry.”
By 1772, James had the requisite land holdings and with the esteem of his neighbors was elected four times to Virginia House of Burgesses in Williamsburg, 1772 through 1775. Representing Charlotte County, he served with the likes of Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and Edmund Pendleton. This period of the Virginia House has been called “revolutionary.”
In 1774, after British Parliament passed the Boston Port Act to close Boston Harbor in March, the Virginia House of Burgesses adopted resolutions supporting Boston and Massachusetts colonists and calling for a congress of all the colonies: Actions which caused Virginia's royal governor, John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, to dissolve the entire Assembly in June.
The burgesses then reassembled on their own volition and issued calls for the first of what were to be five Virginia Conventions which were meetings of the House of Burgesses without the governor and upper level Council. Peyton Randolph, then Speaker of the House, would serve as the President of the Convention, where they would elect seven of James’ colleagues mentioned earlier as delegates to the 1st Continental Congress of October 1774 at Philadelphia.
In winter of 1780, governor Thomas Jefferson, at the request of General Von Steuben – who had been based in Virginia to provide supplies and soldiers for General Greene’s Southern Campaign – authorized the call up of militia. James, age 41 and a father of seven, enlisted in Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Cocke’s mostly veteran, 1st Virginia Militia Regiment (VMR), where he reportedly rose to brevet Captain. It is likely his unit joined General Greene’s army during its return to North Carolina, after its “race” with the British to cross the Dan River.
James served in the pivotal Battle of Guilford Court House with his now renumbered 12th VMR, 15 March 1781. It was on General Greene’s left in the second of three American lines of battle, under the command of General Edward Stevens. They faced the battle-hardened 71st Regiment of Foot, a Scottish infantry unit recruited in 1775 to serve in North America, led by British General Alexander Leslie. In mid-afternoon of this furious 90 minute battle, James was wounded by a shot through the body, ultimately losing 2-3 small ribs.
As the American army retreated, General Greene sought local inhabitants’ assistance, including Quakers of nearby New Garden, to care for his wounded and bury his dead. That James survived this wound, which pained and hobbled him for the rest of his life, makes it probable that he was cared for by area inhabitants.
During his subsequent recovery at home in Charlotte, James finished the land purchases he had begun earlier that would provide the wherewithal to realize his dream of opportunities for his family in the newly opened Virginia frontier: Kentucky. By the time of his departure, he sold his lands and purchased outright, a total of five Virginia “Treasury Warrants” for grants of land totaling 13,200 acres of land in southeastern, central, and western Kentucky.
In the fall of 1782, James Speed moved his family and possessions by pack animals (and a sled for him) from Charlotte Court House, Charlotte County, Virginia, more than 350 miles over the Wilderness Trail to the frontier backlands. James had with him a number of slaves. Their journey took place a year before “…immigration in large numbers commenced. The country was a wilderness, with no accommodations, and controlled by Indians.”
When James arrived at the Harrods Station area of (then) Lincoln County in the fall of 1782, his family consisted of himself, wife Mary Spencer and seven children:
Thomas Speed (25 Oct 1768- 20 Feb 1842), age 14. He moved to Bardstown, Kentucky. He was married, a farmer, “Cottage Grove” (NRHP site), twice a US Congressman.
Mary Spencer Speed (8 June 1770- 5 Mar 1822), age 12. She married William Smith and moved to nearby Madison County, Kentucky.
John Speed (17 May 1772- 30 Mar 1840), age 10. He settled at Louisville, Kentucky, on the Ohio River, married, plantation owner, businessman, county judge, “Farmington” (NRHP site).
Elizabeth Speed (7 Feb 1774- 15 Aug 1803), twin of James, Jr., age 8. She married physician Dr. Adam Rankin, moved to Henderson County, Kentucky, on the Ohio River.
James Speed, Jr. (7 Feb 1774- 14 Sep 1812), twin of Elizabeth, age 8. He was educated for medicine at Kentucky, Pennsylvania and England, physician, moved to Natchez, Mississippi, on the Mississippi River.
Henry James Speed, (15 August 1777- 6 Nov 1824), age 5. He was a farmer, married, moved to Bardstown.
Julia Speed (1778-1783), age 4, who died as child in 1783.
Reflecting the importance of education that they had experienced in their upbringing, James and Mary dedicated themselves to educating their children, wherever they lived.
They lived temporarily near Harrods Station in what was then Lincoln (and is now Mercer) County of Virginia. It was an area between Harrodsburg to the north and Danville to the south, about 80 miles south west of Blue Licks near the Ohio River.
In February 1787, James Speed was invited to join the influential Danville “Political Club,” which was a frontier debating society of up to thirty Kentucky settlers and visionaries organized in 1786. Like James, eleven members were Revolutionary War veterans. Its’ minutes document that he was an active member who served at times as its president, auditor and topic leader. His son Thomas, who was the Club’s secretary, stated that he and his father were emancipationists. This forum provided important and practical “frontier” perspectives and suggestions affecting the settlement and governance of Kentucky, as well as nationally for the new United Sates. The Club’s founder John Mason Brown corresponded directly and regularly with Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. With a new Federal Constitution under national debate in 1787-1789, the “Club,” after its own debate and discussion in February 1788, strongly recommended that a “Bill of Rights” should be in the new “Federal Constitution.” The Club disbanded in 1790. The Bill of Rights became the Constitution’s first 10 Amendments in 1791.
James built his permanent home and settled on 236 acres of lands purchased from William Lawrence and John Bowman in 1790 and 1794, respectively. His farm was near the road or trace leading northwest from Danville station about four miles to the fort town Harrods Station. The whole of these plots was rectangular in shape, located on Harrods Run, bounded on the east and north by plots owned by Samuel Lawrence, the west by John Mahan.
James had become well connected and respected locally, and was active and successful in land sales, exchanges, and purchases. He more than doubled his holdings in 14 years. In 1796, the Mercer County records show James paid taxes on 17 properties totaling 32,618 acres in nine counties across Kentucky. This wealth became the economic basis for business and marital success of his six surviving children. By 1810, with his children now grown and daughters well married, his land holdings had been sold or given to family. Records show he was paying taxes on about 6700 acres in five counties. In his Last Will and Testament written that year, except for his home of 236 acres, he bequeathed all his land to his heirs.
James Speed died 3 September 1811, aged seventy-two years. He made those 236 acres “…his home, and died there and was buried there.”
The life of James Speed expresses thoughtful responsibility, a freedom of action and opportunity, a wonderful balance of devotion to family and community, and unselfish services in peace, war, and peace again as a citizen in the making and governing of a new state and nation.
After his death, widow Mary Spencer Speed lived for a while with her granddaughter, Elizabeth Smith Fry, wife of Thomas Walker Fry, at “Spring House Farm” homestead at Danville, Mercer County, and then the latter portion of life with her son, The Honorable Thomas Speed, at “Cottage Grove” at Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky. Mary Spencer Speed, mother of ten children and pioneer homemaker, outlived her husband by 24 years. She died 5 May 1829 and was buried at Bardstown Cemetery, Nelson County, Kentucky.
References.
“Records and Memorials of the Speed Family.” 1892. Thomas Speed, Esq. Louisville, Kentucky.
“The Political Club Danville, Kentucky, 1786-1790.” 1894. Thomas Speed, Esq. Filson Club Publications. #9, Louisville, Kentucky.
