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Piety (Sasser) Humfleet and William "Bill" Humfleet |
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Piety (Sasser) Humfleet and William "Bill" Humfleet |
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Humfleet Family History, clickon above at Jim/Elizabeth |
that Piety recevied from Bill's sister, Sarah(Humfleet)Grindstaff, CLICK HERE (will open a separate browser window) |
 by Bill's & Piety's gg-grandson Glenn Earl Perry |
Humfleets had a renewed front-porch-view of history as rival armies alternately poured along the road during the 1860s. Although most people in the Mountains of the eastern parts of Kentucky and Tennessee (where the absence of large-scale agriculture made slavery fairly uncommon) favored the Union cause, the Humfleets embraced the Confederacy. Why they did so is not clear. Perhaps it was a matter of loyalties developing after members of the family got recruited by whatever side. In any case, considerable enthusiasm seems to have developed, for there is a story about a female relative visiting at Mt. Olivet who stood outside the house chanting "Hurrah for Jeff Davis!" as the Union troops passed by on< their way to Cumberland Gap and decisive battles beyond. But these years did not produce much fun. Even the house is said to have burned, with what had been started as a barn now being finished by the women and boys to serve instead as the Humfleet home, for all the men were now gone. The three sons who served in the Confederate Army eventually returned home. But Piety's brothers in the Union Army were not so fortunate; her brother, Jesse Sasser, died during the war, and her brother, Adin Sasser, became terribly disabled and did not long survive the end of the conflict. Still, the saddest news at Mt. Olivet related to Bill's arrest on accusations -false, as tradition says- that he had cut a Union Army telegraph line. He was taken away as a prisoner of war to Johnson's Island, Sandusky Bay, Ohio, in Lake Erie. His suffering there must have been horrible, for in November 1862, when Bill's ordeal was only beginning, it inspired a fellow prisoner to write a poem, a Hymn that some believe was written in Bill's honor. To read the Hymn, Click Here (will open a separate browser window) According to one tradition, President Lincoln finally pardoned Bill, but the attempt to get home -by foot much of the way, or so the story has passed down to us- proved worse than prison. In January of 1865 word reached Piety that her husband had perished from pneumonia only a few miles away, at East Bernstedt, in Laurel County, where she took the wagon to bring his body the rest of the way home. According to one of his granddaughters who was born only ten years later, even the body did not get all the way back for burial at Mt. Olivet, and instead Bill was laid to rest up the road at the Robinson Graveyard. |
Madison all served in the Confederate Army. In addition, Betsy's husband, Joe Waggoner, and Patsy's husband, Thomas Tuttle, also were in the Confederate Army. Melvina B. Sprinkle, was married twice. First to Dixon Kirby and second to Jonathan Humfleet. The unusual thing here is that Dixon Kirby was a Union soldier and Jonathan was a Confederate. |
(and apparently not intended to be literally true): When the soldiers came to Mt. Olivet during the Civil War and asked for water, Arthur showed them the spring (the family's source of water, as I used to hear from my grandmother) and they drank it dry! |
the Civil War and that he is buried at the Robinson Church Cemetery. My source for this was my grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth (Humfleet) Taylor. She said that he died on his long walk back home from the Union prison and that somehow his body was NOT brought back to Mt. Olivet to be buried, as many people assume it was. I think this story has an important degree of credibility precisely because it contradicts what people tend to assume, as well as because my grandmother -born only ten years after the event- told the story so confidently. She must have heard this often from her father and others. |
James Harvey "Harv" Humfleet, was a Union soldier, but Pat Mellor's book states that Harv, too, was a Confederate soldier. |
who was in the Union Army. His wife Julia is listed as receiving a pension and living at Gray, Knox County, KY in 1890, as I remember. Nobody seems to be able to figure out who this William was. |
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Name & Rank: Jonathan Umfleet, Pvt Unit: Burrough's L. Art'y Co Enlisted: May 1, 1862 at Cumberland Gap Reel: 91 Confederate Name & Rank: J.M. Humfleet, Pvt Unit: McClung's L. Art'y Co Enlisted: --- Reel: 95 Confederate (deserted) Name & Rank: M. Humfleet, Pvt Unit: McClung's L. Art'y Co Enlisted: --- Reel: 95 Confederate (deserted) Name & Rank: H. Humfleet, Pvt Unit: Co. e, 20th Infantry Enlisted: Oct 18, 1861 at London, KY Reel: 202 Confederate Age 29. P.O.W. Died Dec. 30, 1862 |
Name & Rank: James H. Humfleet, Capt Unit: Co. E. 10th Infantry Enlisted: April 19, 1862 at Columbia Reel: 192 Confederate Age 30. Born in Laurel Co, KY War of 1812 Name & Rank: Joseph Waggoner, Pvt Unit: Co. E, 10th Infantry Enlisted: No enlistment information Reel: 158 Confederate P.O.W. Name & Rank: Thomas Tuttle, Pvt Unit: Burrough's L. Art'y Co Enlisted: May 1, 1862 at Cumberland Gap Reel: 91 Confederate |
Guestbook of the overall Cobb-Sasser Family Lineage Website Please do sign the book! |
CLICK HERE |
The John Henry Sasser Descendants (except for #14, infant Barbara) | ||||||
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| 01-Keziah | 02-Dixon | 03-Malinda | 04-Adin | 05-Arthur | 06-Barden | 07-Piety |
| 08-Martha | 09-Crawood | 10-James | 11-Jesse | 12-Nancy | 13-Patience | |
Job Humfleet's Will Sarah (Humfleet) Grindstaff's letter to Piety | ||||||
A website, called "The Umfleet/Huey Family Tree," created by Norman Duane Umfleet has info about the early Umfleets. Where our site shows how they then branched out to Knox and Laurel Counties, Kentucky, Duane's site shows how they then branched out to Illinois, Missoruri, etc. His site includes photos, family trees, maps, links and much more. To go there, CLICK HERE (will open a separate browser window) |
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