On Easter Tuesday, April 3, 1866, Kerfoot participated in the service at Trinity Church by reading the ante-Communion. After that, he met with the Board of Diocesan Missions from 10:45 until 1:30. During the last half hour, he began to feel weak and bewildered, as he later wrote, "very weak". He said that he "broke down utterly; body feeble, mind and memory confused," so he had to stop work and cancel a visit to Meadville. By the next day, Kerfoot was still "very weak, but better." He blamed his illness on "nervous prostration from Hospital fever, the hot weather, and overwork." By April 16, he was much better and began to resume his work.