Jasper N. Cabanis was born around 1838 in Sangamon County, Illinois, to George and Mary Cabanis. His father was a carpenter who owned $1,200 of real estate and $500 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Grant County, Wisconsin. By 1860, Cabanis was working as a merchant in Elk Grove, Wisconsin, and he owned $500 of personal property. He married Hannah M. Richards on November 7, 1860, and their son Jasper was born on January 18, 1862.
He enlisted in the Union army on August 9, 1862, and he mustered in as a private in Company I of the 25th Wisconsin Infantry. The regiment took part in the Dakota War of 1862, and Cabanis died of disease in Wilton, Minnesota, on December 9, 1862.