
John James Speed, Jr. (July 20, 1803 – June 15, 1867) was an American farmer,
merchant
A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
, politician, and pioneer in
telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
.
Biography
Speed was born in
Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Mecklenburg County is a county (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 30,319. Its county seat is Boydton, Virginia, Boydton.
His ...
, on July 20, 1803, and his family moved to
Caroline, New York
Caroline is a town in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 3,282 at the 2010 census. It is on the county's southeast border, southeast of Ithaca.
History
The area was first settled circa 1794 while the region was stil ...
, in 1807. Speed was educated in Caroline and became a farmer before relocating to
Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
to become a merchant. In 1832 he married Anne Sophia Morrell, an aunt of
Theodore L. Cuyler.
He was active in the
New York Militia
The New York Guard (NYG) is the State Defense Force (SDF) of New York State, and is one of the four branches of the New York Military Forces (NYMF), the other three branches being the New York Army National Guard, New York Air National Guard a ...
in the 1820s and 1830s, and became commander of a regiment with the rank of
colonel
Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
. A
Whig in politics, in 1832 he was elected to the
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Ass ...
, and in 1838 he was elected a trustee of the village of Ithaca as well as
Town Supervisor
The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local services in the American state of New York. The state is divided into boroughs, counties, cities, towns, and villages. (The only boroughs, the f ...
of the town of Ithaca. In 1843 he was elected President of the village trustees.
In 1840 he was a
presidential elector
In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...
, and cast his ballot for
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison (February 9, 1773April 4, 1841) was the ninth president of the United States, serving from March 4 to April 4, 1841, the shortest presidency in U.S. history. He was also the first U.S. president to die in office, causin ...
and
John Tyler
John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president of the United States, vice president in 1841. He was elected ...
.
Speed lost his mercantile fortune in the
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that began a major depression (economics), depression which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages dropped, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment rose, and pes ...
and turned to telegraphy to recover. In the 1840s he experimented with both visual and electric telegraphs. In Ithaca he was friends with
Ezra Cornell
Ezra Cornell (; January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was an American businessman, politician, academic, and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as president of the New York ...
and together they became agents for
Samuel Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After establishing his reputation as a portrait painter, Morse, in his middle age, contributed to the invention of a Electrical telegraph#Morse ...
's partner
Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith, who had become the agent for the Morse patent in the states of
Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
,
Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
,
Indiana
Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
, and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
.
Smith contracted with Cornell and Speed in 1847 to build a line from
Buffalo
Buffalo most commonly refers to:
* True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo
* Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo
* Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...
to
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
,
Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
and
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...
, and Speed moved to Detroit. Speed built the section from Detroit west. He made a sub-contract with
Jeptha Wade
Jeptha Homer Wade (August 11, 1811 – August 9, 1890) was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and one of the founding members of Western Union Telegraph. Wade was born in Romulus, New York, the youngest of nine children of Jeptha and Sar ...
for the construction of a line from Detroit to Jackson, the first line completed west of Buffalo in the summer of 1847. When the line reached Chicago it was organized at the
Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company with Speed as President. Direct contact was established between Chicago and Buffalo in January, 1849. However, the line was not well constructed and revenues were initially small.
Speed and Taliferro Shaffner connected the eastern and western hemispheres with a line from
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...
,
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
and the
Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...
. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
he constructed a telegraph line from
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
to
Portland, Maine
Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...
. He continued to invent, and received patents for his improvements to the telegraph. In his later years he left the telegraph business and became involved in iron manufacturing.
Death
Speed died in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, on June 15, 1867.
[New York, New York, Death Index, 1862-1948, entry for John James Speed, retrieved July 20, 2014] He was buried at
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...
.
References
External links
''Initial Ithacans: Comprising Sketches and Portraits of the Forty-Four Presidents of the Village of Ithaca (1821 to 1888) and the First Eight Mayors of the City of Ithaca (1888 to 1903)'' 1904. Thomas W. Burns, author.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Speed, John James
1803 births
1867 deaths
Telegraphy
People from Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Politicians from Ithaca, New York
New York (state) Whigs
Members of the New York State Assembly
Town supervisors in New York (state)
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
1840 United States presidential electors