Biographical Sketch of John Speer
John Speer is best known as one of those able and brave editors and free-state men who made Lawrence his headquarters, and, after the times were fairly settled, his home. He was prominent as an editor, public printer and a legislator. Mr. Speer was a Pennsylvanism, born in 1817, learned the printer’s trade in his native state, and in 1839 established a whig newspaper at New Castle that supported Harrison for president. He was also connected with various whig and free-soil newspapers in Ohio from 1840 to 1854. In September, 1854, accompanied by his brother Joseph, Mr. Speer located in … Read more