Cousins  families have been in south Wexford from early Norman times.The names derives from the Old-French ' Le cosin i.e relation or kinsman  . The earliest reference is to Henry Cosin under the years 1282-1283 in Hore's History of Old Ross.  In 1312 Patrick Cosyn was Vicar of Bannow and in 1240 was appointed ( with others) collector of the subsidy to tithes of Papal Pence for the Diocese of Ferns.

In his history of the Barony of Forth, Hore mentions a David Coussen who was implicated with others in 1559 in intruding upon the lands of Richard Stafford of Ballymacane ( Tacumshane) and stopping the flow of water from Lady's Island Lake into the sea.

By the mid-seventeenth century families of the name had become well established in the Barony of Forth. The 1659 "census" lists Cussin as one of the principal names in the barony. This was still so at the middle of the last century when we find 22 Cousins householders listed in Griffith's  1853 Valuation compared to  two in Shelmalier East ( Tykillen ),  two in  Bantry ( New Ross, Templeudigan) and  one in Shelmalier West ( Ardcandrisk).

The name became best known in Wexford through the mineral water company at Old Pound (St Peter's Sqare) founded by Patrick Cousins from Ballyharron, Tykillen.  Griffith's records William Cousins owning 24 acres and John Cousins 13 acres at Ballyharron in 1853.

Patrick Cousins , who died in 1934, had been prominent in the commercial life of Wexford for more than forty years.  He was chiefly responsible for reviving the Chamber of Commerce and became its President.  He was one of the founders of the Rosslare Golf Club and one  of the pioneers  of the Gaelic Athletic Association ( G.A.A) in the  county. For many years he was chairman of the South-East Mineral Water Works Association. His daughter Eva Cousins, married Dr. Tom Walsh, founder of the Wexford Opera Festival. A singer and actress of great talent, she was a leading light opera artist from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Thomas Cousins, Menapia Avenue Wexford, who died in January 1950, played  a notable  part in the War of Independence.  He was one of the first  to join  the Irish Republican Brotherhood

( I.R.B )  in 1913. During the the Black  and Tan campaign he was arrested and detained in the Wexford military barracks.  He escaped and was later captured with Gregory Devereux of Ballyfinogue and put in Waterford jail.

On the signing of the Treaty in 1921 he was released and joined the national army, retiring with the rank of captain in 1925. On the outbreak of World War Two, he joined the Local Security Force  and later the Maritime Inscription Corps. He was an employee of the Wexford Timber Co, for forty years and was foreman for a period with the Wexford County Council.