He was born in
Newburyport, Massachusetts. As a boy, he developed a desire to be a sailor and shipped on a voyage to the
East Indies on the
brig Mars. The
Mars was owned by the uncle of Capt.
George H. Flanders, with whom he would later go into business. The financial success of his first voyage led to his receiving a command of the
Maryland in 1840 from John Newmarch Cushing, the father of diplomat
Caleb Cushing. His first voyage in the
Maryland was from Newburyport to the
Columbia River, where he intended to exchange various goods for a cargo of
salmon. At the time, the mouth of the Columbia was considered one of the most hazardous places for navigation on earth, because of the presence of a large
sand bar. His attempt at a trading voyage was rebuffed by the
Hudson's Bay Company, which controlled commerce in the Oregon Country. The
Maryland was subsequently sent to the
Hawaiian Islands, where it was sold. Couch returned to Massachusetts by finding passage on another vessel. Cushing did not attribute the failure of the trading voyage to Couch, however, and entrusted him with a command a second vessel
Chenamos, named after a Native American chief along the Columbia with whom Couch had established friendly relations on his first voyage. He arrived in the
Pacific Northwest in June 1842, navigating up the Columbia and the
Willamette River to just below
Oregon City, which was the largest settlement in the Oregon Country, which at the time was still disputed between the U.S. and
Great Britain. Couch successfully established a general store and sent his brig home, remaining in the Oregon Country for five years. In 1845, during his stay in Oregon, he took a claim of land, now known as "Couch's Addition", in present-day Northwest Portland. The dispute between the U.S. and Great Britain over the Oregon Country, however, prevented him from perfecting the claim at the time. On March 4, 1846, Couch was appointed as treasurer of the
Provisional Government of Oregon after Francis Ermatinger resigned. In 1847 he took passage back to Massachusetts via China, arriving in Newburyport in 1848. Later in 1848 he was convinced by a shipping firm in New York City to take command of another vessel, the
Madonna, on a voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Captain Flanders, who had been for years master of vessels for the Cushing shipping company, agreed to serve as chief mate, and to assume command of the vessel so that Couch could remain in the
Oregon Territory to discharge the cargo. The
Madonna sailed from
New York Harbor on January 12, 1849, and arrived in
Portland the following August. His passengers included
United States Senator Benjamin Stark. Following his instructions, Couch stayed in Oregon City while Flanders took the vessel on short trips between Portland and San Francisco. In 1850 Flanders and Couch began a trading and wharf business together. The
Oregon Treaty of 1846 (in which the U.S. acquired the Oregon Country below the
49th parallel north) and the subsequent passage of the
Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 allowed Couch to perfect the land claim in Portland he had filed on his previous voyage to Oregon. From 1850 onward, he was a resident of Portland and became one of its most well-known and well-respected citizens. Couch served on the
Portland Public Schools board from 1856 to 1858. His residence was near present-day
Union Station. John Couch died on January 19, 1870, in Portland. ==Legacy==