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Thomas Henry "Harry" DeCoursey
(1866 - 1940)
STATE BOARD OF HEALTH Registrar's No. 51396
Division of Vital Statistics, State of Kansas
1. PLACE OF DEATH:
(a) County Wyandotte
(b) City or town Kansas City
(c) Name of hospital or institution: Providence Hosp
(If not in hospital or institution write street number or location)
(d) Length of stay: In hospital or institution ______ In this community ______
(Specify whether years, months or days)
2. USUAL RESIDENCE OF DECEASED:
(a) State Kansas
(b) County Leavenworth
(c) City or town Leavenworth
(d) Street No. National Hotel
(e) If foreign born, how long in U. S. A.? _____ years.
3 (a) FULL NAME: Thomas (Harry) De Coursey
(b) If veteran, name war
(c) Social Security No.
4. Sex M
5. Color or race W
6 (a) Single, married, widowed, divorced Widowed
(b) Age of husband or wife if alive _____ years
7. Birth date of deceased (month, day, year) February 14 1866
8. AGE: Years 74 Months 2 Days 8
9. Birthplace (city, town or county) Leavenworth Co (State or foreign country) Kansas
10. Usual occupation Retired
11. Industry or business Creamery
FATHER
12. Name James DeCoursey
13. Birthplace Canada ___________
(City, town or county) (State or foreign country)
MOTHER
14. Maiden name Mary Murphy
13. Birthplace Ireland 1 ___________
(City, town or county) (State or foreign country)
16. (a) Informant's own signature Jas. H. DeCoursey 2
(b) Address 408 N 17 st K.C.K.
17. (a) Burial, cremation or removal Removal
(b) Date thereof (Month) (Day) (Year) 4/22/40
(c) Place: burial
18. UNDERTAKER A.L. Sumpter [?]
(Address) Leavenworth Kan
19. (a) Date recieved local registrar APR 22 1940
(b) Registrar's signature Howard Payne
MEDICAL CERTIFICATION
20. Date of death: Month Apr day 22 year 1940 hour 7 - minute 15 am.
21. I hereby certify that I attended deceased from Mar 2 - , 19 40 , to Apr 22 , 19 40 , that I last saw h im alive on Apr 21 , 19 40 , and that death occurred on the date and hour stated above.
Immediate cause of death Uremic coma 3 Duration 4-17-40
Due to Chr. nephritis and chr. myocarditis 4 Duration 4 yrs.
Due to Gen. arteriosclerosis with hypertension 5 Duration ? ?
Other conditions -
Major findings:
Of operations none
Of autopsy none
22. If death was due to external causes, fill in the following: [...]
23. Signature A J Rettenmaier (M.D. or other) MD
Address Kansas City, Kansas Date signed 4-22-40
1 Mary Ann Murphy was born Canada, most likely in or near St. Thomas, Ontario, not Ireland. Her parents were born in Ireland. Interestingly, James gave St. Thomas as her birthplace on his Uncle Charlie's death certificate just 2 years earlier.
2 James H. DeCoursey was the oldest son of Harry's brother Edwin. Harry's only living sibling at the time of his death was his sister Mary, who was living in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
3 Uremic coma can occur in the later stages of uremic syndrome (uremia), a serious complication of renal (kidney) failure. It can cause severe nausea, confusion, psychosis, irregular heart beats, and pulmonary edema (fluid in lungs). Uremia is caused by the accumulation in the blood of nitrogen-bearing waste products (urea) that are usually excreted in the urine. Urea is toxic to the body and can affect all the major organs including the brain. Symptoms usually only appear when kidney function falls to less than 10 percent of normal. Kidney failure can be chronic or acute. It can be caused by a variety of different things. The most common are diabetes, high blood pressure and inflammation or obstuction of the kidney.
4 Nephritis is an inflammation of the kidneys. It is generally caused by an infection or an autoimmune reaction. Side effects of medication can also be responsible. The symptoms experienced depend upon the part of the kidney affected and the type of nephritis.
Myocarditis is an inflammation or degeneration of the heart muscle. It causes symptoms of heart failure, which may mimic a heart attack. It is an uncommon disorder most often caused by viral infection, but may also appear as a primary disease in adults or as a degenerative disease of old age.
5 Hypertension is commonly known as high blood pressure.
