BIOGRAPHIES: Frank SPEED, Chetek, Barron County, WI ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Vic Gulickson 31 May 2002 ==================================================================== Frank Speed, residing on a farm near the western limits of Chetek City, was born in the town of Lowville, Columbia County, Wis., May 27, 1854, son of George and Annie L. (Bonsteel) Speed. He was reared in Juneau County, and came to Barron County with his parents in 1873. For many years he was variously employed as a railroad man and as a farmer. He was interested for a time in a sawmill at Barron, in company with his brothers, Silas and Walter, In 1900 he first came to Chetek and helped in the office of the Chetek "Alert", then owned and edited by his brother, Walter. Then he again entered railroad work. He was employed in construction work near Cumberland, in this county, and then became section foreman with headquarters at Hayward, in Sawyer County. Then he came back to Barron County, and worked on the construction of the "Soo" through the county. Afterward he was section foreman on a section some seven miles west of Rhinelander, Wis. His next employment was in the sawmill and lumber business at Barron, in this county. Subsequently he worked in a planing mill at Strickland in Rush County. In 1900 he took up his residence on the present farm. His time is largely occupied with his duties as night watchman at the plant of the Barron County Canning and Pickling Co. at Chetek. Mr. Speed is held in good respect by the community. He is a substantial and well-liked member of the Modern Woodmen. His wife belongs to the Rebekahas, the Royal Neighbors and the Woman's Relief Corps. Mr. Speed was married on July 3, 1881, to Edith Wood, born in Erie County, Penn., Aug. 6, 1865, daughter of Josiah and Sarah Jane (Utton) Wood, who came from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin in the seventies and settled near Lisbon, in Juneau County, afterward moving to Barron County where they had forty acres east of Barron City. In 1890 he moved to Barron City. There the father died, Sept. 24, 1891. The mother took up her home with her daughter, Mrs. Frank Speed, with whom she lived for thirteen years until her death May 10, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Speed have had seven children: J. Don, Blanche, Earl R., Ross, Margie, Lyle and Verna. J. Don was born Aug. 20, 1883, and is foreman of the Chetek factory of the Barron County Canning & Pickling Co. He married Etna Pryce and they have two children, Doris Ione and Walter Lewis. Blanche was born Dec. 6, 1885, and died at the age of 14 months. Earl R. was born June 11, 1891, and is now supervising teacher in the East End High School at Superior, Wis. Ross was born May 9, 1892, and now operates his uncle Walter's farm for his father. He was inducted into the United States service Aug. 2, 1918, was sent to Camp Taylor, Ky., and from there to Camp Merritt, N. J. He sailed for France Oct. 28, landed at Brest in a replacement division, was transferred to the 107th Ammunition Train, 32nd Division, and with that train participated in the Army of Occupation, guarding the Coblenz bridge head. He left Germany, April 21, 1919, sailed from Brest, May 1, and was discharged at Camp Grant, Rockford, Ill., May 24, 1919. Margie was born July 11, 1894, and is now wife of Irving Tubbs, a Chetek blacksmith. Lyle was born Oct. 20, 1896, married Nettie Johnson, of Albertsville, Wis., and works in the office of the Cheteck "Alert". Verna was born Dec. 15, 1898, and is the wife of Bennie Knutson, of Chetek. --Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co., 1922, pg. 427.