It was 1862 when a 17 year old Margaret Nichol Vaulx, growing up during a time of great national strife wrote the words, "that I may be in after years an ornament to society and the delight of my dear parents." She came of age during the American Civil War and has left us writings which are that very ornament which she so prophetically spoke of. Margaret (hereafter known as Maggie) was indeed the delight of her dear parents and of future Vaulx generations. Maggie's journals have been described as both national and state treasures and as one Belmont University journalism instructor said, "she can be compared to a civil war Anne Frank."