John Speed (May 17, 1772 – March 30, 1840) was an American judge and farmer in Louisville, Kentucky.

[1] In 1791, Speed served during the American Indian Wars under Brigadier General Charles Scott.

[1][2] Speed was appointed as a judge of Quarter Sessions Court in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

He deplored the existence of slavery, but, under the laws regulating the institution, he could not do otherwise than he did, which was treat his slaves humanely and make them comfortable and as contented as possible.

[1][4][5] Peachy Speed Peay's daughter Eliza married John Hardin Ward, who served in the American Civil War with the 27th Kentucky Volunteers.

[2][7] He was originally buried at the Farmington homestead, but his remains were moved to the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.

[8] In 1841, Abraham Lincoln went to visit his friend Joshua at the Farmington Plantation, where he would stay for three weeks' time.

A small iron clevis was around the left wrist of each...So that the Negroes were strung together precisely like so many fish on a trot-line.” Almost a decade and a half later, Lincoln wrote another letter in 1855 to Joshua Speed, recalling how the slave images he had witnessed at Speed's plantation continued to haunt him.