BIO:  Hon. David MCCONAUGHY, Adams County, PA

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History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania
Chicago:  Warner, Beers & Co., 1886
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Part III, History of Adams County, Pages 362-363

HON. DAVID MCCONAUGHY, attorney and counselor, Gettysburg, was born in that 
place July 13, 1823, a son of John and Margaret (Patterson) McConaughy, natives 
of this county, and of Scotch-Irish descent.  The McConaughy family were among 
the first settlers of Adams County, and one of the most prominent of her 
pioneers.  David McConaughy, the great-grandfather of David, was a member of the 
Legislature in the old colonial times, took active part in the Revolutionary 
war, and after its close served again in the Legislature, and was sheriff of 
York County, by commission from George III.  By occupation he was a farmer and 
miller.  The great-grandfather of David on his mother’s side, Arthur Patterson, 
of Lancaster County, Penn., was a member of the Legislature both before and 
after the Revolution, and performed service in that war as captain.  The lives 
of these two men were very much alike; both were of Scotch-Irish extraction, 
came from the old country in the same vessel, and each served as justice of the 
peace, as well as in the Legislature together.  John McConaughy, the father of 
our subject, located in Gettysburg in 1800.  He had been a farmer and miller, 
and became a lawyer in 1806.  David was the youngest child of three sons and 
three daughters, and is the only one now residing in Adams County.  Robert, the 
eldest son, read law and was admitted to the bar at Gettysburg, removed to 
Indiana and there died in 1840.  James, the second son, is a manufacturer in 
Johnstown, Cambria Co., Penn.  The daughters were Hannah Mary, wife of Moses 
McClean, whose son, Hon. William McClean, is the present judge of this district; 
Elizabeth, the widow of Prof. M. L. Stoever, and Martha E., wife of Rev. David 
Wilson, Presbyterian clergyman, late of Missouri, who, at one time was president 
of a college at Monrovia, Liberia, and served as chaplain in the Union Army.  
David grew to manhood in his native town, and at the early age of seventeen 
years graduated at Washington College, Penn., in 1840.  After graduating he 
accepted a position as principal of a high school in Maryland where he remained 
two years.  In 1842-45 he read law under his brother-in-law, Moses McClean, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1845, since which time he has continued in the 
practice of his profession, in which he has been successful, both in management 
of his cases and in a pecuniary sense.  It was mainly through his efforts that 
the Evergreen Cemetery was established in Gettysburg, in 1853, of which he was 
president and so remained until 1863.  In the last year, on the invasion of the 
State by Confederate troops, Mr. McConaughy offered his services to the 
Government and was assigned to the secret service.  At the battle of Gettysburg 
he was, by special order of Gen. Couch, appointed side-de-camp, with the rank of 
captain, and after the battle he received a letter of thanks from Gen. Meade for 
services rendered.  Mr. McConaughy conceived the idea of the Gettysburg Battle-
field Memorial Association, of which he was chosen president in 1863, and served 
ten years, and actively negotiated for the purchase of the land on which the 
battle was fought, which is now the property of the association.  In politics he 
was first a Whig, then a Republican.  He has filled a number of offices of honor 
and trust, among which were those of school director, member of the town council 
and State senator, having been elected to the latter office in 1865.  In 1847 
his marriage with Catharine, daughter of George Arnold (for years cashier of the 
First National Bank, Gettysburg) was celebrated.  Her death occurred in 1853, 
and for his second wife our subject married Leana, daughter of James B. 
Matthews, of Maryland, and to the latter marriage were born three sons, all of 
whom are graduates of Pennsylvania College:  James graduated at the age of 
seventeen years, now the associate general secretary of the Y. M. C. A., of 
Philadelphia; Samuel graduated in his nineteenth year, is secretary of 
northwestern branch of the Y. M. C. A., of Philadelphia; and a daughter, Mary, a 
graduate of the female seminary at Pittsfield, Mass.  The family is identified 
with the Presbyterian Church.  Mr. McConaughy was a member of the National 
Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President the first time, and a 
member of the Electoral College at his second election.