Parricide research in the 20th century has been overwhelmingly framed as an adolescent phenomenon, the killing of a parent often explained as a function of severe child abuse. Using archival data from the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, 1851-1899, this article examines the actual sources of conflict between parents and their offspring in 19th-century America. Results suggest that four common sources of conflict between parents and their offspring culminated in parricides in 19th-century America. The implications of a context-based classification of parricide for criminological theory and parricide research are discussed. (Published Abstract)