Contra Costa County CA Archives Biographies.....Cousins, Charles Samuel 1830 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 18, 2006, 3:23 am

Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1891)

CHARLES SAMUEL COUSINS, Recorder of Contra Costa County, was born in Clinton
County, New York, December 14, 1830, of ancestry traceable on the paternal side
back to the Norman French. His father, John Cousins, was a native of Yorkshire,
England, and educated for a branch of the government service; but instead of
entering that he went into mercantile business in London, and was successful on
a large scale until his managers of a branch house, by ill advised measures,
broke him up. After that he emigrated to the United States, locating in Clinton
County, New York, where he resided some years engaged in agricultural pursuits.
In 1840 he removed to Chataugay, Canada, where he spent the remainder of his
days. The lady whom he married was Elizabeth Harrison, a native of Yorkshire,
England, and died April 19, 184-6. Of her eight children, six were born in
London; and of the four now living the subject of this sketch is the only one
residing in California.

  In 1840 or 1841 Thomas Cousins, brother of John, with his family of nine
children, emigrated to America, by way of the St. Lawrence River; and while
ascending that stream on board a steamer the works exploded and all the family
were lost excepting the wife, who was saved as if by miracle! She was thrown
high into the air and fell upon one of her own feather-beds! From the wreck she
was taken to the residence of a gentleman named Pennyman, where she remained a
resident until she died, at a very advanced age. Mr. Pennyman esteemed her so
highly that he gave her a home, rather than that she should go elsewhere. This
was at Lachine, in the province of Quebec, nine miles above Montreal.

  At the age of seventeen years the subject of this sketch struck out into the
world for himself, as his mother had died and the family was broken up. At
Rouse's Point, at the foot of Lake Champlain, in his native county, he was
employed as a clerk in a store for a time; then, more for the purpose of
education than anything else, he took up the study of law; but, his taste for it
increasing, lie concluded to complete the course. Just before the required three
years were expired, however, Mr. Cousins won a case in a justice court, upon
which his preceptor had also been employed, C. B. Wright, and this incensed him
so that he would not want to give a certificate of time to Mr. Cousins, and the
result was that the latter peremptorily and forever quit both his preceptor and
the law.

  Next, until 1854, Mr. Cousins was road or mail agent on the Northern New York
Railroad from Rouse's Point to Ogdensburg; then he was engaged in the
civil-engineering department of the Chicago & Milwaukee Railroad at Chicago; the
line was completed to Waukegan January 1, 1855 and work in his line was then
suspended. He opened the railroad station at Waukegan, returned to Chicago and
took charge of the freight and ticket department, and was also auditor for the
company. He inaugurated the entire office business of operating the road,
drafted all the blanks and books of the road and put everything in shape for
running. He was also paymaster for the company, and on one occasion when he was
upon a car in transit from one gang of men to another in a narrow cut, he came
near being killed by a collision. He and his party barely had time to stop their
car and turn it bodily off the track.

  The onerous duties of his manifold situation at length began to affect his
health. Young as he was, every dollar in the business of the road passed through
his hands, and every item checked on the several books and report blanks; and he
also had the supervision of all the reports of the station agents, conductors,
etc. One night his nervous system had been under so intense a strain, while he
was sitting in his chair attending to business, that he fainted and fell to the
floor. Therefore, late in the year 1857, after three years' service, he was
compelled to resign, although offered the position of assistant superintendent.
He took a position as book-keeper in a large country store, where he had easy
duties and a larger liberty, remaining there until December, 1859, when he came
to California and immediately located in Contra Costa County, with his wife's
relatives. His first position here was as clerk in the Golden Eagle Hotel at
Sacramento during the exciting times of building the Central Pacific Railroad
and the inauguration of the "pony express" system. In June, 1861, he became
clerk in the United States mint at San Francisco, and while in that position he
obtained leave of absence and went to Gold Hill, Nevada, to settle up the estate
of a widow. The "Plato mine," under his management as a part of the estate, paid
a larger dividend than any other mine in that State. In 1864-'65 he held a more
responsible position at the mint; then he was appointed assistant melter and
refiner in the institution, and given the entire management of the department.
In 1869 he resigned to engage in real estate in that city.

  In 1870 he came to Pinole, Contra Costa County, and engaged in farming; and
while there he fell from a load of hay and broke the muscles of his hip so
seriously that he can never fully recover. In the fall of 1882 he was elected
County Recorder, on the Republican ticket, and took charge of the office the
following January; and by re-election he has ever since held the office. At each
election his majority is greater than at the preceding election.

  Mr. Cousins was first married in December, 1856, at Waukegan, Illinois, while
he was in the service of the railroad there, to Miss Sarah C. Denio, of New York
State, who died in 1865, in Martinez, California; and subsequently Mr. Cousins
married Kate T., daughter of the late Dr. Samuel J. Tennent, of Martinez, and a
relative or the Martinez family, one of the oldest in this section. May 15,
1889, on a leave of absence, Mr. and Mrs. Cousins made a trip to the East,
visiting old friends, who were greatly rejoiced to see them. Arriving at Chicago
he could not resist the temptation to take a ride over the old Chicago &
Milwaukee Railroad, whereon he had labored so assiduously for years, and
peculiar were the sensations awakened by the occasional sight of something
familiar amid the multitude of changes that had taken place since that time.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

Memorial and Biographical History of Northern California.

Illustrated, Containing a History of this Important Section of the Pacific Coast
from the Earliest Period of its Occupancy to the Present Time, together with
Glimpses of its Prospective Future; Full-Page Steel Portraits of its most
Eminent Men, and Biographical Mention of many of its Pioneers and also of
Prominent Citizens of To-day.

"A people that takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will
never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote
descendents." – Macauley.

CHICAGO
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1891.


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