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- Findagrave.com:
findagrave.com/memorial/20311602/valentine-whitehead
Source:
Four Generations of the Immigrant Christian Rodabaugh by Kem Luther:
In 1743 Valentine's parents, Christoffel (Stoffel) and Elizabeth Weisskopf, set out from southwestern Germany for America. They brought with them their daughter, Magdalena, and Elizabeth was expecting another child. During the arduous trip Elizabeth gave birth to their son, Valentine.
The Weisskopfs arrived in Philadelphia on September 8, 1743 on the Loyal Judith, James Coway, ship's master. Valentine was just six days old. Unfortunately, within 2 years Christoffel died. He was less than 30 years of age at the time of his death.
On December 26, 1745 the widow Elizabeth married Christian Rodabough, by whom she had several more children. Christian adopted Valentine and his sister Magdalena as his own. The Rodaboughs lived and farmed in eastern Pennsylvania for a while, moved to Maryland for a time, then returned to eastern Pennsylvania.
When Valentine was only 14 or 15-years old, he joined a group of soldiers under Gen. John Forbes in 1758 in the campaign to take Ft. Duquesne (Pittsburgh) back from the French. Since Valentine was so young, he may not have actually engaged in battle. He may have cut wood, run errands, helped the cook, etc. Col. George Washington came up from Virginia to join Gen. Forbes in this campaign.
The 1758 campaign to drive the French from the Ohio Valley began on a sour note. Gen. Forbes was terribly ill, had to travel in a wagon bed and was unable to keep up with the main force. He turned the day-by-day command over to his second-in-command, Lt. Col. Henry Bouquet. As they neared the Fort in September, Bouquet sent 800 men under Maj. James Grant, primarily the 77th Regiment of Foot (Montgomrie's Highlanders), ahead to scout out the French emplacements and assess their strength. Grant, believing the fort to be lightly defended, instead drew the French out in an attempt to ambush them. The ambush went horribly wrong as Grant underestimated the number of French forces and their Indian allies. The Highlanders suffered high casualties and Grant was forced to make a desperate retreat.
French commander de Lignery knew, however, that he would not be able to hold the fort against the main body of British troops, which numbered between 6,000 and 8,000 men. The fort was manned by only about 600 French and Indians and many of the natives began deserting him. On Nov. 26 he blew up the fort's magazines, set fire to the structure and retreated under cover of darkness. As the British marched toward the smoldering remains on the morning of the 27th young Valentine was greeted with an appalling sight. The Indians had decapitated the dead from among the Highlanders, impaled their heads on spikes and displayed their kilts below them.
Around 1760, presumably at Valentine's urging, the entire Rodabough family moved to western Pennsylvania. By 1778 Valentine married Sophia Maria Ruff. He referred to her as Mary in his will. They had eleven children together, including Valentine, Jr. (my 4x great-grandfather, born in Nov. 1779), Mary, Barbara, Susanna, Elizabetha (called Elizabeth in his will), Magdalena, Catherine, Sara, Christianna (called Christina in his will), Christoper ("Stoffel," after his grandfather) and Peter. I believe that Amanda Whitehead Taylor, who is also buried in this cemetery, may be the daughter of Valentine's son Peter. If you can confirm this for me I would appreciate an email from you.
Valentine is believed to have spent his life farming in North Huntingdon township, just north of the Pittsburgh. He may have used the name Whitehead during his lifetime, which is the English translation of Weisskopf. Nevertheless, he signed his will Valentine Wisecope, a phonetic spelling of Weisskopf. His children, however, abandoned the German name in favor of its anglicized version.
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