Joshua Fry Speed (1814-1882) - Find a Grave Memorial

Businessman. He was a friend and confidant of future 16th United States President Abraham Lincoln. He left Louisville, Kentucky in 1835 for Springfield, Illinois, where he befriended Lincoln, became a merchant and worked as a newspaper editor. During Civil War, served as President Lincoln's western affairs adviser, and was offered the position of Secretary of Treasury several times by the President, but he declined each.