Biography/History

Marshall Cousins was a banker by profession. He served as assistant cashier in the Union National Bank of Eau Claire for many years and was for a short time, during the governorship of Emanuel Philipp, state banking commissioner. In 1888 Cousins enlisted in the National Guard and for the remainder of his life maintained his connection with the state military organization, rising to the command of the 6th Wisconsin Infantry and serving with troops in the Spanish-American War and on the Mexican border in 1915. His election to the presidency of the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1928, together with his freedom from family or office cares, gave him the opportunity to gather information on many phases of local history of his home region.

1869, September 4	Marshall Cousins born in Eau Claire, where he resided until moving to Madison, probably in the 1920's.
1888	Joined Griffin's Rifles, the Eau Claire branch of the Wisconsin National Guard.
1895-1897	Wisconsin State Assemblyman
1895	Chairman of Wisconsin State Assembly Committee on Military Affairs.
1898-1900	Served in Spanish-American War.
1918	Discharged from active military service after World War I duty in Waco, Texas.
1918-1923	Served as State Commissioner of Banking. Previously he had worked as the cashier of the Union National Bank in Eau Claire and as a collector for its predecessor, the Bank of Eau Claire.
1928-1939	Served as president of the Board of Curators of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
1938	Became a member of the American Military Foundation.
1939, February 28	Died four days after being struck by a car in Madison.