During the nineteenth-century, there was a rise in the number of deaths among American women due to Puerperal Fever. The numbers rose rapidly after 1840 and did not start to decline until about 1885. Part of the reason for the rise in cases of Puerpal Fever was the decrease in the numbers of deliveries attended by midwives, and an increase in the number attended by physicans. Midwives were far less likely to use obstetrical instruments to extract a baby during the course of delivery. Physicans however, owned these instruments and used them. Unfortunately, the instruments were not always sterile. This resulted in the passing of bacterial infection from one woman to another as a doctor made his rounds.

As early as 1840, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes of Boston argued that Puerperal Fever was spread by doctors and birth attendants. Dr. Ignatz P. Semmelweiss of Vienna agreed that those attending the mother were responsible for spreading the disease. In his own hospital he required all medical students who were attending deliveries to thoroughly cleanse themselves. He was able to dramatically reduce the number of fever cases with this simple practice. Many doctors however rejected the arguments of Holmes and Semmelweiss. Louis Pasteur discovered streptococci microbe chains in 1860. However, it was not until 1880 that he successfully demonstrated to the medical community that these same microbes were the cause of Puerperal infection. The medical community was then able to begin to control the spread of the disease. After about 1885, antisepsis began to be used in American hospitals and the number of cases of Puerperal Fever steadily declined. With the introduction of sulpha drugs and penicillin in the 1930s and 1940s, doctors were able to cure the disease before it became fatal (Wertz and Wertz 1977).

Sarah Read Coursen may have been a victim of this deadly infection. She was 23 years old when she died. A little over 30 years later, in May 1864, her niece Margaret Eliza Read (daughter of her half-brother Samuel Read and wife of Jonah Read) died within a month of giving birth to her first child, a son named Alvin. Margaret Eliza was 20 years old at the time of her death. She was buried next to her Aunt Sarah (Newberry c. 1934; Union Brick Cemetery). This disease appears to have claimed the life of Charlotte Snyder Read in June 1845. Charlotte was married to Sarah's first cousin, Issac S. Read, the son of David Read. Charlotte gave birth to her second child, a son named Abraham, on 5 June 1845. She died eight days later at the age of 39. The baby lived a little over two months, he died on 16 August 1845 (Union Brick Cemetery). Clearly this disease claimed the lives of mothers of all ages and experience.

After Sarah's death, her husband William and his brother Jacob settled in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. In 1840, William and his young son Aaron lived in South Shenago Township in Crawford County. William never remarried after Sarah's death. his mother Elsy Coursen moved west with her son and kept house for him and her grandson. The 1840 Census lists three individuals in William Coursen's household:

Table 1: Household of William Hampton Coursen in 1840
1840 United States Federal Census, South Shenago Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, page 7

William's brother Jacob lived next-door. The Fonner family also lived near-by. Aaron would eventually marry William Fonner's daughter Sarah. After Sarah died, Aaron married her older sister Dorinda. The two sisters and Aaron grew-up together.

William Coursen purchased a farm in South Shenago Township from the estate of Stepehn Barlow. The deed was recorded in the county courthouse on 15 May 1854 (Crawford County Land Records, hereinafter CCLR, Deeds Book I, no.2, page 218). However, William probably purchased the property at a much earlier date. In 1849, the Crawford County Tax Assessor assessed William Coursen for 50 acres of land in South Shenago Township, 2 cows and 2 horses. The land was valued at $250, the cows at $14 and the horses at $40, for a total tax value of $304. That year he paid $1.52 in county tax and $0.92 in state taxes. His neighbor William Fonner was assessed for 195 acres (in two tracts of 170 and 25 acres) valued at $975, a sawmill valued at $25, 9 cows valued at $63, 2 horses valued at $50 and a buggy valued at $35. Fonner's total estate was valued at $1138. His taxes for 1849 were $5.69 for county and $3.41 for state (Crawford County Board of County Commissiones, hereinafter CCBCC, Tax Records, 1849).

Table 2: Household of William Coursen in 1850
1850 United States Federal Census
South Shenago Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, page 242B

William still lived adjacent to his brother Jacob. Jacob's family included Jacob (age 46), his wife Mary (age 42). and their eight children—Elizabeth (age 20), Marshall (age 17), Silvia (age 15), James (age 11), Margaret (age 10), Catherine (age 8), Jacob (age 4) and Amanda (age 2). William was in dwelling 198 and Jacob was in dwelling 199. The Fonner family lived in dwelling 196. Their household included William and Margaret Fonner (ages 56 and 52 respectively) and their six children—Amanda (age 23), Dorinda (age 20), Cyrus (age 19), Emily (age 16), Sarah (age 14) and William Harrison (age 10).

Aaron Coursen married Sarah Fonner on 22 May 1856. Twelve days before the wedding, Aaron purchased a tract containing 21 acres and 106 perches of land in South Shenago Township from William H. Johnson (deed was recorded 7 February 1860, CCLR Deeds, Book S, no. 2, page 550). This parcel was known as the "Johnson Place" and was Aaron's home farm at the time of his death in 1895 (Crawford County Wills Book H, page 494). The farm was valued at $450 in the 1860 census. When the census was taken, Aaron and Sarah were living with Aaron's father. William "Corson" was the head of the household. He was listed as a farmer who held real estate valued at $6,500 and a personal estate valued at $6,026 (1860 United States Federal Census, South Shenago Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, pages 841 A and B). The 1860 tax assessment for Crawford County places the value of William's real estate at $329. Aaron's real estate was valued by the tax assessor at $147—the purchase price in 1856 had been $541 (CCBCC, Tax Records, 1860; CCLR Deeds, Book S, no. 2, page 550).

William, Aaron and Sarah lived in dwelling 831. Sarah's parents, William and Margaret Fonner were in dwelling 830. Three of Sarah's siblings were still living at home: Dorinda, Emily and William Harrison. William Coursen's brother Jacob lived in dwelling 832. His wife Mary and four of their children—James, Catherine, Jacob and Amanda—were also members of the household. William, Jacob and Aaron Coursen and William Fonner were all farmers. William Coursen's mother Elsy Kerr Coursen appears to have died between 1850 and 1860. A young girl named Mary Bowman lived in the Coursen's household. She was an 11 year old native of Pennsylvania. She may have been domestic help for Sarah who had three children under the age of 4. These children were William McKendra, Melville Ewing and Elizabeth Ophelia Coursen. The census reports Melvin's name as "Melvina" and gives his sex as female. However, this child was definitely Melville Ewing and not a daughter named "Melvina." According to the census the child was 2. Melville Ewing Coursen celebrated his second birthday on 24 April 1860 (Crawford County Marriage License Docket Vol. 2, page 484). William Courson's household in 1860 consisted of the folllowing inidividuals:

Table 3: Household of William Coursen in 1860
1860 United States Federal Census
South Shenago Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, page 841 A and B

Tax and land records for William Coursen indicate that he farmed at a modest scale. He was assessed for 50 acres of land between 1849 and 1858. The value of his land in 1849 was $250. Between 1850 and 1852, the value dropped to $225. In 1853, the value of his land incresed to $300; it increased again in 1856 to $375. In about 1857, William sold a small fraction of his land to Razil King (CCLR Deeds Book Q, no. 2, page 271). The 1859 tax assessment reflects the decease in the size of his land holdings. From 1859 to at least 1870, William was assessed for 47 acres. After the sale of the three acres in the late 1850s, the 1859 tax assessment of his land stood at $329. The value of his land remained the same until the end of the Civil War. In 1865, his land was assessed at $388. Then in 1868, the value of his land increased by 142 percent to $554. The tax book for 1868 indicates that assessment for land in Crawford County had increased from a average of $8 per acre before 1868 to $11 per acre in 1868. By this formula William's land should have been valued at $517, but there appear to have been certain features that placed the land's value at approximately $11.79 per acre (CCBCC Tax Records, 1849-1870). Between 1849 and 1870, William generally owned no more than 2 cows and 2 horses per year. For most of that 22 year period he owned one horse with the exception of the years 1849 through 1852 and 1863 through 1865 when he owned 2 horses (the 1865 tax assessment specifies that they were mares). He did not own any horses during the period 1856 through 1857. William generally owned two cows during a given year. He had three cows in his possession in 1859. During the years 1850 through 1852, 1854 through 1855, 1859 and 1865, he owned only one cow. After 1865, William divested himself of all his livestock. He owned a horse during 1869, but that is the only year he was assessed for livestock after 1865 (CCBCC, Tax Records, 1849-1870).

The 1870 census reflects the absence of livestock in William's personal holdings. No value is listed in the census under personal estate. The census does list real estate valued at $3,000. William still lived with his son Aaron in 1870. Aaron was listed as the head of the household. Aaron's first wife, Sarah Fonner had died in 1864. Aaron married her sister Dorinda as his second wife. In 1870, the Coursen family included William, Aaron and Dorinda, Aaron's four children by Sarah (William, Ewing, Lizzie and Elmer) and his daughter Meltha by Dorinda.

Table 4: Household of William Coursen in 1870
1870 United States Federal Census
South Shenago Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, page 488

William decided to retire after 1870. During the 1870's, he began to sell his land. He sold 4 acres to William H. Johnson (recorded 8 April 1878, CCLR Deeds Book S no.4, page 420). William lived with his son Aaron and Aaron's family for the rest of his life. He was a resident of Aaron's household in 1880. Aaron was the head of the household, which was located in South Shenago Township. Aaron's household in 1880 included Aaron and Dorinda Coursen, Aaron's four children by Sarah, his daughter by Dorinda, and William Coursen. William Coursen was listed as a retired farmer (he was 78 years old). His son Aaron and grandsons William, Ewing and Elmer were all listed as farmers.

Table 5: Household of Aaron R. Coursen in 1880
1880 United States Federal Census, Enumeration District 118,
South Shenago Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, page 166D

William Coursen died 1 February 1884, a few months short of his 82^nd birthday (Espyville Cemetery; Kern 1938). He had been a widower since Sarah's death in October 1833, just a little over 50 years. He was buried next to his mother, Elsy Kerr Coursen, in Espyville Cemetery in the town of Espyville in North Shenago Township, Crawford County. William's wife, Sarah Ann Read Coursen was buried in Union Brick Cemetery in Blairstown Township, Warren County, New Jersey. Her grave was first visited in June 1983, and I have returned to Union Brick on numerous occasions since that date.William's grave was visited on 9 July 2005.