Submitted by Descendant: Latrell E. MICKLER
José Gaspar Blas Papy was the second eldest child and the first son born to José Baltazar Victorino Papi / Papy and Rafaela Ynes Maria Remualda Oliveros. He was born in St. Augustine, St. Johns County, Florida Territory, 3 Feb 1830. He was also known as Joseph B. Papy.
The 1850 Federal Census of St. Augustine lists him as a saddler. On 18 Aug 1857, during the third Seminole War, Joseph B. Papy enlisted in Captain Mickler’s Indian Company, Florida Mounted Volunteers, at Ft. Brooke, Tampa. He was a bugler.
The 1860 Federal Census takers found “Joe Pappi” in Charleston City, Charleston, South Carolina, where he was working as a harness maker.
January of 1861, back in St. Augustine, he enlisted in the Marion Artillery, and was stationed at the Castillo de San Marcos. Joseph B. Papy enlisted as a musician on 3 Sep 1861, in Jacksonville, Florida, at age 30, in Co. A, 3rd Infantry Regiment, Florida; he was transferred 17 May 1862 from Company A to Company S and promoted to Full Drum Major on 17 May 1862. He was detached on 19 August 1862 at Columbus, Georgia, at a saddle & harness factory. He was stationed in the saddle and harness factory for the duration of the War of Northern Aggression.
9 Apr 1863, Joseph married Louisa Caroline Henry in Columbus, Muscogee County, Georgia. He returned to St. Johns County, Florida, with his family in March or June 1869, where he was a farmer. In 1880, he and his family were living in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia, where he owned a butcher shop. On 26 Dec 1882, he lost his butcher shop to a fire, and returned to spend the rest of his life farming in the community of Sampson, St. Johns County, Florida.
Joseph Papy was awarded a pension for his service in the Confederate Army. He and Louisa were the parents of seven children. He died in Sampson 24 Aug 1911, at the age of 81, and is buried in Sampson Cemetery.
José Gaspar Blas Papy was first established as a Florida Pioneer in 2005