The Brown Family Murders, 1840

Checked against the record. Checked on 1 November 2026, and read again by a second checker. No other story on this site covers the 1840 killings. The 1840 Huntingdon Journal was read in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive for 3 June, 2 September, 18 and 25 November, and 2 and 9 December, and for the issue the archive files under 4 November. That issue is Vol. V, No. 48 (No. 47 is 28 October and No. 49 is 18 November), and it reports the execution of Friday the 6th, so it was printed after 6 November, probably as the 11 November issue; it is cited by its number, not as 4 November. The 10 and 17 June issues carry no arrest report. The Columbia Democrat (19 September), the Gettysburg Star (23 June), the Carlisle American Volunteer (18 June and 19 November), the Stroudsburg Jeffersonian Republican (4 July, reprinting the Chambersburg Repository), the Pottsville Miners' Journal (17 October) and the Sunbury American (21 November) were read as reprints. Every quotation was checked word for word against the archive's text of each page or against the county history. Africa 1883 and Lytle 1876 confirm the 1840 prosecution and the six victims. The date: the trial testimony gives 30 May, and the 3 June letter, written on a Sunday, says the family was killed yesterday, which fits Saturday 30 May 1840. The Chambersburg account says Saturday the 25th ult., but 25 May 1840 was a Monday, so the story uses 30 May. The 1887 Journal's date of 20 May was not seen. The father: the 3 June letter, the Gettysburg reprint and the Chambersburg account all name him William Brown; the Democratic Standard headline reprinted in the Columbia Democrat appears in the scanned text to read John Brown. The story uses William. The victims: the indictment names Rosanna, John, Elizabeth, Jacob, George and David; the letter counts his wife, one daughter and four sons, and the trial account calls Elizabeth, Jacob, George and David children, so Rosanna is the wife. The ages conflict (the Journal letter gives the oldest son 21 as read on the scan, the trial gives Elizabeth 14 and David 10, and the ages in Rung's 1947 article were not seen), so no ages are given. Where the bodies lay: the letter has two in the house and four in the woods within half a mile; the Gettysburg reprint says all were found in the woods a short distance from the house; the story says at and near their home. Africa's sketch of George Taylor places the murders in Shirley township, against Cromwell in every 1840 source. The Journal counts about sixty witnesses and the Democratic Standard about seventy. The surname is spelled McConeghy, M'Conaughy, M'Conahy and McConaghy; the story uses the form of the Journal and Lytle. The death warrant is dated 19 September 1840 in the sheriff's sworn return as printed on 25 November and 2 December; the Miners' Journal reported it on 17 October. Both 1840 accounts of the execution describe the rope breaking, but no source seen gives a cause, so the story reports only what the papers say. The constable John Price and any arrest examination do not appear in any 1840 paper read. Africa 1883 lists a John Price as Shirley township constable for 1839 and Nathan Rickets for 1840, and a John Price on the Shirleysburg town council from 1837 to 1840; that does not show who held the prisoners, so the story does not name him. No sentencing words were found, so the story says only that Judge Burnside presided. The printed confession broadside (American Antiquarian Society, dated 7 November 1840) was found only through a secondary online record and not seen, so the story cites the Journal's own promise to publish it. Not seen: the 1887 Huntingdon Journal, Rung's 1947 and 1970 articles, Wingert's compilation and Sherman Day's 1843 history. No living person is named.