Speak Family Page


The Speak family became a part of our Family Tree when, on 15 January 1835, 16-year-old Jane V. Speak married 21-year-old George Washington Ball in Lee County, Virginia. Jane V. Speak was born on 12 Feb 1818 in Washington County, Virginia. Her father was Nicholas Speak (1782-1852) and her mother was Sarah Faires (1786-1865).

As in so many other cases, there seem to be many variations of the spelling of the surname of this family including Speak, Speake, Speaks, Speakes. Please Note: I cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of the information here, but have done my best. If you have additional information or corrections to submit, please contact me at kkgoins@comcast.net. --Kathy Anderson Goins.

The following information about Nicholas Speak was obtained from "speaksdm" on the Ancestry website:


Generation One

Nicholas Speak was born on 3 March 1782 in Charles County, Maryland. On 12 Aug 1804, in Washington County, Virginia, he married Sarah Faires.

To this union the following children were born:

In about 1823, Nicholas and Sarah Speak purchased land on Glade Branch (now Speaks Branch) in Lee County, Virginia, and moved their family there. In about 1828, they established a Methodist Church near Rose Hill in Lee County. Nicholas was a lay preacher who married many young men and women there. (Per a 1991 newspaper article detailing the dedication of a memorial to Nicholas and Sarah Speak.)

In 1852, Nicholas Speak died and was buried at Speaks Chapel Cemetery. His wife Sarah lived until 1865 when she joined her husband in death and was buried alongside him.

Generation Two

Jane V. Speak was born 12 February 1818, in Washington County, Virginia, to Nicholas Speak and Sarah Faires. On 15 January 1835 in Lee County, Virginia, Jane was married to George Washington Ball (1814-1852), who had been born about 1814 at Boone's Path, Lee County, Virginia, to George Washington Ball (1787-1852) and Sarah "Sally" Moore Ball.

Children born to Jane V. Speak and George Washington Ball:

George Ball and family were found in the 1840 census still living in Lee County, Virginia, but I have not found him and his family in the 1850 census. It seems that he died in Laurel County, Kentucky, in 1852, and is probably buried at Ball Cemetery in Laurel County, although there is a story passed down through the family that he died on the way from Lee County, Virginia, to Laurel County, Kentucky and may have never reached Laurel County. I don't know if that story is true or not. (See his Find A Grave memorial for that story.)

Generation Three

George Washington Ball (son of George W. Ball and Jane Speak) was born about 1844, probably in Lee County, Virginia. He is found in the 1860 census, living in Laurel County, Kentucky, with his mother Jane (age 42), and siblings William (28), Nicholas (18), Mary J (16), "Faney" (20), George (14), Rebecca (8) and James T. Ball (7). On 22 October 1863, he was married to Sarah Patience McFadden (1840-1929 - daughter of John McFadden and Bartheny Young).

George and Sarah Ball had the following children:

1) Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie" Ball Edwards (born about 1864)

2) Eliza Jane Ball Goins (1867-1951) *Our Ancestor - Please see the Goins Family Page for more information.

It is believed that George and Sarah Ball also had two children who died as infants (per George Ball tombstone). George Ball is believed to have died sometime in 1867 and was buried at the John McFadden Cemetery at Baldrock, Laurel County, Kentucky. The cemetery is a small family burial plot, and his name is listed on a memorial stone there.

In 1868, George's widow, Sarah Patience McFadden Ball married Jonas Calvin Whitt and had four children with him: (1) Martin Louis Whitt (1869-1953), (2) John Mitchell Whitt (1874-1926), (3) James R. Whitt (born about 1878), and (4) Rhoda Stella Whitt Tucker McClure (1880-1967).

For more information, please see the Ball Family Page and/or the Goins Family Page.

Note: This page was last updated in April 2019.