Joshua Fry Speed was born on the Farmington plantation in Louisville on November 14, 1814. In 1835, Speed moved to Springfield, where he engaged in various business pursuits. Two years later, he became the friend and roommate of Abraham Lincoln, who had moved to Springfield to practice law. The two men became confidants, often commiserating over the states of their respective love lives. In 1841, Lincoln broke his engagement with Mary Todd and became distraught over the mistake he had thought he made. He and Speed traveled to Louisville, where they visited Speed's family for six weeks. After recovering from his melancholy, Lincoln returned to Springfield and renewed his relationship with Todd. Although Speed moved back to Louisville in 1842, he and Lincoln remained close friends. At the outset of the Civil War, Speed and his Unionist allies were important to preventing Kentucky from seceding. Although he sometimes disagreed with the president, particularly regarding emancipation, Speed advised Lincoln about affairs in Kentucky throughout the war. Speed's opinions often reflected those held by Kentucky's conservative Unionists who supported both the Union and slavery. In the post-war era, Speed became a valuable source for researchers interested in Lincoln and he posthumously published Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln and Notes of a Visit to California (1884). Speed died in Louisville on May 29, 1882.

David Herbert Donald, "We Are Lincoln Men": Abraham Lincoln and His Friends (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003).