Her mother died soon after her return from school, and she assumed the charge of her father's summer home in Lexington, Kentucky, as well as the winter plantation home in Louisiana, and took the place of her mother in the care and control of six brothers younger than herself, and an infant sister.

He died February 15, 1863,[2] leaving her with a family of little children to bring up and a large estate to manage unaided.

After the children got older and she was relieved of some financial responsibilities, Humphreys was able to follow her inclination in literary pursuits and the cause of the emancipation of woman.

"[3] The most original of Humphrey's literary productions was an article read before the Convention of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association on "Man and Woman in the Bible and in Nature," in which she advanced the theory of the sexual duality of God, of the Adam made in His image, and of all His creatures which were in the beginning spiritual.

Through social persecution for her advanced position, the responsibilities of being a wife, mother, and widow, the word "Liberty" became a talisman to her.