Background
Ainsworth was born in Springboro, Ohio, on June 6, 1822.
Ainsworth was born in Springboro, Ohio, on June 6, 1822.
Foreign others similarly named, see the John Ainsworth navigation page
All of this took place before Ainsworth turned twenty. In 1844 they bought a steamboat and started a successful packet delivery service along the upper Mississippi River. Then the Gold Rush hit in 1849, and he sold his share of the business to go to California.
The Gold Rush did not live up to his expectations, so he found a job piloting a steamer on the Willamette River in Oregon.
In late 1860, Ainsworth and several investors started the Oregon Steam Navigation Company (OSNC). The OSNC controlled the shipping routes of steamers, railroads, and freight lines in Washington and Oregon.
By 1869, the OSNC monopolized the Columbia River transportation market. In April 1879, Henry Villard purchased the OSNC for its full value of $5 million.
Ainsworth retired to Oak Lawn, California, after the sale.
After selling out, he entered the banking business in 1883 with the Ainsworth National Bank in Portland. In 1892, he started the Central Bank of Oakland. Ainsworth had four children: George, John, Harry and Daisy.
Ainsworth was a Freemason, and eventually the third Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Oregon.
In 1870, Ainsworth founded the Orient of Oregon and the Valley of Portland of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Society of Jesus (Jesuit) and served as the first Sovereign Grand Inspector General of the Orient of Oregon. After retiring to California he wrote his autobiography.
He died near Oakland, California, on December 30, 1893.