Robert S. Cowie was born on April 18, 1873, in Glencoe, Buffalo County, Wisconsin. His parents George and Margaret Cowie, were natives of Glasgow, Scotland, but came in l848 to Pottsville, Pennsylvania. After remaining there for two years, George Cowie moved his family to the California gold fields by way of Panama. Finally, in 1855, the Cowies came to Wisconsin. George Cowie was a successful farmer, served for twenty-five years as postmaster of Glencoe, became justice of the peace, and in 1872 became the first Democratic member of the state Assembly from that district.
Robert S. Cowie was eleven of twelve children of George and Margaret Cowie. After attending the public schools of Glencoe, he obtained a teacher's certificate and taught in the second grade. In 1892 he borrowed five hundred dollars to begin studying law, and received his bachelor of laws degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1894. For the following three years, Cowie worked in the law office of John C. Gaveney in Arcadia, Wisconsin. In January 1898, he was elected district attorney of Trempealeau County and moved to Whitehall, where he practiced law. Elected district attorney a second time, he served from 1898 until 1902. In these years, Cowie took an active part in the Republican Party in Western Wisconsin. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1902 appointed him a deputy auditor for the Navy Department, and Cowie held that position in Washington, D.C., for two years. He then resigned and returned to Whitehall, where in 1905 he was elected County Judge of Trempealeau County and served until July 1909.
Cowie next accepted an appointment to the State Board of Control for two years. At the end of the term, he returned to Whitehall to practice law. There he ran for Circuit Judge in 1917 against Judge Higbee but was defeated. The following year, Cowie moved to La Crosse to form a partnership with Quincy H. Hale. The firm continued until January 1, 1925 when Cowie was elected Circuit Judge with jurisdiction over La Crosse, Monroe, Vernon, and Trempealeau counties.
On December 25, 1897, Cowie married Kathryn Melby of Whitehall. She was the daughter of John C. Melby, pioneer banker and founder of the Melby Bank in Whitehall. On December 31, 1900, the Cowies' daughter, Janice, was born. Eventually she became an instructor in La Crosse and married Joseph Becker of Springfield. Their son Joseph was an attorney in La Crosse and donated the Robert S. Cowie Collection.
Cowie continued on the circuit bench at La Crosse and was serving his fifth term at the time of his death on October 3, l95l. He was not able to preside in court after 1949, however, because of ill health. He was a member of the Congregational Church, the Masonic and Elks lodges, the La Crosse County Bar Association, and the Wisconsin State Bar Association.
As a lawyer, Cowie was noted for his thorough and keen presentment of cases, and as a judge he demonstrated a fair and dignified manner which commanded respect. While district attorney of Trempealeau County, he successfully prosecuted four murder charges resulting in life imprisonment. As an attorney, he defended five first degree murder charges which resulted in acquittal. Because of his successes Cowie was considered one of the outstanding trial lawyers in the Midwest. During his terms as Circuit Judge, there was great demand throughout the state for his services in the trial of important cases. He was judge of several major criminal cases in Milwaukee, including the Luick Dairy murder case, which was given national publicity. On October 9, 1951, the editor of the La Crosse Tribune described his career as “one of the most colorful, brilliant, artistic exemplifications of the skill and art of the lawyer in our generation,” and added that few of his judicial decisions ever were carried to higher courts.
In addition to county histories and newspaper obituaries, the most accurate information about Cowie's life is contained in the memorial by Quincy H. Hale published in Wisconsin Reports 26l, Cases Determined in the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
