William R Valliant, Lafayette Co, AR Dear Aunt Ludie, I am faxing you some information on the Rodgers, Rogers, and Valliants in your county. The pages I am sending pertain to William R. Valliant. Attached to the clip is a letter written to my grandfather from your great great grandmother Margaret Rogers Valliant. I do so hope he answered her as he named his first son after her son Lonnie that died. Please remember times were hard and the Valliant family went from very wealthy to having nothing. In her letter Margaret Valliant refers to James Thompson Valliant. He was a doctor and served in the Civil War. The family always referred to him as Doc or the Doctor. He remained at the head of the family and his brothers always took his advice. The Valliant land roughly ran north and south about eight miles west of Falcon in Nevada county, other lands farmed by the Valliants show to be around Springhill. For that time period they owned extensive lands. The Civil War changed and finally ended the affluent way of life which the family had known. The confederates had used their home in Falcon as a drop stop for confederate large sums of payroll. When the union troops came through they were targeted and their home burned. A worker in the home took the boys and salvaged what furniture she could and cared for the brothers until the Doctor came home the following winter. Your great great grandfather William Robert died leaving his widow and small children to raise around the Camden area, --she wrote Nevada County Arkansas October 10, 1882 Mr. L. P. Valliant Dear Brother I?vmyself to write you a lines in my life. This leaves us all well at present. I say well but I am never well but I am able to work yet. I have worked so hard since William died to help raise my children. I have had a cough for a long time. I am afraid it will run into consumption. Lula is grown she and Maggie is as large as I am they are the prettiest girls around here. They favor there father so much. I wish that you could see them. I went to Pike last week to see my kin people. I have not seen the Doctor in a longtime. I have never seen him but twice since he came back from Texas. I sean Mollie once before she died. I have seen his last wife one time. He never comes to see me nor gives the children anything nor even writes to me. I feel like the Valliants had forsaken me. Tom use to write to me but I have not got a letter from him in about? I do not know? Write to me. I am going to write to him this evening. Well if I knowed that you would ever get this I would write more but I will not write any more this time. If you will write to me I will write you a long letter. From Margaret Valliant (Rogers) (Readers, this was really hard to share. However there is more in the manuscript I was sent. There are many dates I feel I must share, and also a few gaps I feel I can close for the generous cousins that forwarded me this wonderful information. For me to receive copies of letters over a hundred years old is both happy and sad.