Biographies:  Hon. Henry COUSINS, Eau Claire, Eau Claire Co., WI 

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Hon. Henry Cousins (deceased).  Among the names of the strong men who helped 
to make the Eau Claire bar famous stands that of Hon. Henry Cousins.  From 
early boyhood to the day of his death his character was never tarnished by 
a blot.  Although quiet and unassuming, he became widely known in legal, 
political and social circles as a man to be trusted in all relations of life. 
His demise called forth the most glowing tributes and eulogies that were ever 
bestowed on a deceased member of the Eau Claire bar by members of that 
association.  He was born in Mayville, Chautauqua county, New York, on 
February 7, 1826, and with his parents, John and Mary Cousins, removed to 
Dover, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in the spring of 1837, where, until the age 
of fifteen years, he had the advantage of such schools as the newly settled 
district afforded.  For two years he was employed as a clerk in a dry goods 
store, but the confinement being somewhat irksome he sought a wider field 
of labor, and, as expressed in his own peculiar diction, he "went tot work 
on his father's farm, where he had the reputation of taking more time to do 
less work than any other boy in the neighborhood."  At this time a taste for 
study and general reading was developed which was stimulated and directed 
by a Baptist clergyman of Dover, who kindly placed his library and advice 
at his command.  Thereafter commenced the study of law at Elyria, Ohio, in 
the office of J. D. Benedict, and in 1848, when twenty-two years old, was 
admitted to practice by the supreme court of that state.  In 1848 he became 
interested in the anti-slavery discussion which convulsed the country, 
espoused the advance opinions on that  subject, having the confidence of 
such men as Giddings and the Wades of that state, and was known as an 
abolitionist of the voting school, when the term implied more of approbrium 
than honor.

A letter from the Hon. Joshua R. Giddings, then in Congress relative to his 
candidacy for re-election was a greatly cherished memento of this beginning 
of Mr. Cousins' political activities.

In 1850 he came to Wisconsin and entered on the practice of his profession 
at East Troy, Walworth county; was elected clerk of the court in 1854 and 
held office for six consecutive years.   While in East Troy a warm and 
confidential friendship sprang up between the young attorney and Judge John 
F. Potter -- Bowie Knife Potter -- and he attended to many legal matters 
for the judge during the period he was in Washington.  When Judge Prior, of 
Virginia, challenged Judge Potter to a duel, the latter, before public 
announcement of the matter was made, returned to East Troy for the purpose 
of putting his affairs in order.  To Mr. Cousins he made known his ideas 
as to how pending litigation was to be handled.  Many matters of a 
confidential nature were entrusted to the younger man, and in explanation 
shortly before the judge's return to Washington, while the two men were 
occupying the same room as a sleeping apartment, the judge announce he 
had received a challenge just before his departure from Washington and 
that his trip was to prepare for what might happen.  Mr. Cousins tried to 
dissuade him from accepting the challenge, but was met with the statement, 
"No, by God, I have accepted, and if I ever get Judge Prior on the field 
I will kill him is I can."  But the outcome of this challenge is a matter 
of history.

On the outbreak of the War of the Rebellion he received a provisional 
commission authorizing him to recruit a company, which, on its acceptance 
by the United States, would entitle him to a captain's commission.  The 
company was recruited, offered to the government, and every man on the rolls, 
with the exception of Captain Cousins, passed a physical examination.  After 
his rejection by the army surgeons he devoted his labors, until the close 
of hostilities, to assisting and aiding others in recruiting and in fostering 
loyal sentiment among the people.

His father, John Cousins, as a boy of 14, served with Macdonough at Lake 
Champlain, and the grandfather, a sea captain previous to the Revolutionary 
War, was issued letters of marque by Congress and assisted in naval 
operations.

In 1866 he located in Eau Claire.  In 1867 was elected district attorney 
and re-elected in 1869; was elected to the assembly in 1871 without 
opposition, and bore an honorable part in the Dells improvement struggle, 
and was thereafter alderman of the Third Ward in this city for two years.  
He was also a member of the county board of supervisors.

In consequence of failing health in 1881 he accepted the position of 
register of the United States land office in Arizona, but in 1883 returned 
to Eau Claire, having voluntarily resigned the office.  In 1885 he was again 
elected district attorney for Eau Claire county, and in 1887 declined 
nomination, thus closing his official career.  After several weeks of 
sickness he departed this life late in the afternoon of Thursday, October 
25, 1888, at the age of sixty-five years, eight months and eighteen days.  
While taking no place in religious controversy, nor holding dogmatic theology 
in high esteem, he held as supremest truth the fact of a Creator, Ruler and 
Father of all mankind, and that at some period, somewhere in the time to 
come, would be accomplished the final exaltation of the race.

As a politician, while deeming principle above party, and while indulging 
in free criticism of its policies, he held to the last profound regard for 
the party he believed had wrought well for the people, and revered with all 
the force of his nature the steadfastness of those men who strove for the 
extinction of chattel slavery and the equality of all men before the law.  
As a lawyer he came to the profession believing the machinery of the law 
should be so used as to ameliorate conditions, protect society and uphold 
the right.

At the exercises of the Eau Claire Bar Association held in Circuit Court 
January 15, 1889, many tributes of respect were paid to his memory.  The 
resolutions of the committee made special mention of the high esteem of his 
colleagues for "his ripe attainments through mastery of details, 
conscientious practice and large experience in his profession; for his 
uniform recognition of courtesies due to the bench and the bar, and for 
his great veneration for the law as an ample shield of protection for the 
citizens against encroachments of wrong."  A special mention was made to 
the helping hand he was always ready to extend to the young practitioner.

Mr. Cousins had a keen appreciation of wit and a never failing stock of 
stories which illustrated his points, either in arguing before a jury or 
in making a political address.  In the use of sarcasm he was an adept, 
but, as one fellow practitioner stated, "Henry's shafts, though telling 
and effective, are so tempered as not to sting and hurt."  To this day 
some of his former associates repeat his stories.

Mr. Cousins was one of those who remain cool and collected when most people 
are in a state of great excitement.  One gentleman described his entrance 
into Mr. Cousins' office, then in the old Music Hall Building, which was 
on fire.  Mr. Cousins sat at his desk writing. The excited friend dashed 
in, crying out, "The building is on fire.  What shall I do first?"  Mr. 
Cousins finished, then calmly blotting it, he glanced up and replied, "Well, 
under the circumstances I would suggest you better get a pail of water."  
When provocation appeared to demand the use of emphatic language, Mr. 
Cousins was not found wanting, but as a friend says, "However emphatic his 
expressions are, they are nevertheless picturesque and artistic."

January 21, 1861, he married Louise, daughter of Otis and Julia (Corbin) 
Preston, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Ohio, but 
of French descent.  Mrs. Cousins was born October 26, 1840, in White Pigeon, 
Mich.  She is a cultivated, broadminded woman, and interested in social 
and educational progress.  She has two children.

--Taken from "The History of Eau Claire County, 1914, Past & Present",
page 281.