03/19/2024
Day 18 of Women’s History Month…Somerset Junior Woman's Club remembers a fiesty lady who was a keeper of history! .
Alma Vinita Owens Tibbals on July 5th, 1874, to Dr. Samuel Richard Owens, Jr and Mary Jane Newell Owens. She had 4 brothers and was the youngest of her 4 sisters. Her father was also postmaster at Garden Cottage from 1867-1878. Garden Cottage is what is now known as the Pisgah Community. Her parents were charter members of the Presbyterian Church at Pisgah and are buried in the cemetery there.
Alma’s mother died in January of 1896 when w
her dress caught fire while burning dry leaves. Because of her mother’s death, Alma’s wedding date had to be postponed. My father died in 1901.
She married Frank Evans Tibbals on November 5, 1896. Frank (Evans as she called him) was the only son of Luther and Sarah Tibbals. His dad was a druggist and had come from Indiana to open the drug store some time before 1900 due to his ill health. When Evans was old enough, he took over the pharmacy. The pharmacy was located at Johnson’s Block and was large two-story business on the corner of South Main and Monticello Street. In addition to the drug store there where two general stores and a hardware and furniture store on the main level. The upstairs served many purposes including a opera house, staking rink and dance hall. That building burned in August of 1918. Evans was the first and only vet in Somerset and south eastern Kentucky for more than 50 years.
Alma and her husband had TEN children (2 boys and 8 girls) from 1901 to 1925 including a set of twin girls. During their marriage, they lived first in a log home at the top of Monticello Hill near the city limits. That house was covered with weatherboard and had been added on to several times, finally catching on fire and burning in 1926. Evans wanted to build back on the property but Alma wanted to move into town. They had great debates on the issue. Being the strong and independent woman she was, she decided she would move whether he wanted to or not. She had an inheritance from her father’s estate and found a house at 202 College Street. She paid $4000 for the house and moved to town. Her husband finally moved with her and ran his vet business from the basement. The house was never in HIS name. How cool that Alma was able to this at a time when women couldn’t even do much banking or business without a man in the family taking the lead!
In 1930, the stock market crash had a great effect on their lives. Money, that had never been an issue before, became tight, so since her children were grown and out of the house, Alma took in boarders. She would do whatever was needed to make sure she stayed financially stable.
Alma had taken care of her husband, her children and even boarders in her home since 1896 and she was a bit lost. Through her almost 80 years, she knew many people in Pulaski County and had for years been compiling what she knew about them AND stories from others in the area. She had a closet full of papers on the second floor with information she thought would someday be useful. In 1952, all that she had compiled was published as a book called “A History of Pulaski County Kentucky.” The book has been used to research many of the people you hear from during the SJWC Pulaski County History Walk.
Evans died in April 1954 and was buried in the Somerset Cemetery. After his death, Alma went to live with one of children in Rockcastle County. She followed Evans in death on June 18, 1957 at the age of 84 years and 13 days. After her death the house was sold outside the family. But, in 2006, her granddaughter Jane and her husband bought the house. The house was again on the market this year.
There are several stories of Alma looking in on the residents of her College Street home from time to time. To this end, her story has been part of the SJWC Ghost Walk and other History Walks. We often wonder if she is watching and listening to make sure we tell her story correctly!
So…Alma…thank you for YOUR story and for saving all the OTHER stories about Pulaski County’s earlier days! Keepers of history are extraordinary sentries of the past!
GFWC Kentucky, Inc.
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