McLoughlin was born on October 1784 in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, of Irish (his grandfather came from Sharagore (Desertegny) in the Inishowen peninsula of County Donegal), Scottish, and French Canadian descent. He lived with his great uncle, Colonel William Fraser, for a while as a child.
In 1798, he began to study medicine under Sir James Fisher of Quebec.
In 1814 he became a partner in the North West Company, a fur-trading firm, and was assigned to the Rainy Lake District in Ontario. In 1821, when the North West Company merged with the Hudson's Bay Company, McLoughlin was sent as factor of the Columbia District. At this time Oregon was subject by treaty to joint occupation by England and the United States, although when McLoughlin arrived no Americans were there. His duty to monopolize the fur trade and to make maximum profits coincided with British interests in Oregon, but McLoughlin never allowed duty to override his humanitarian impulses.
In 1825 he established Ft. Vancouver (present Vancouver, Wash. ) as the capital of his empire. He established farms, orchards, mills, a shipyard, and a dairy to supply the needs of his fur-trapping brigades. Also, he brought peace among the Indians and induced them to gather furs. Ships from England arrived annually with merchandise, departing with furs estimated in value as high as $150, 000 per year. McLoughlin tried to persuade the Indians not to trade with Americans, but he also tried to prevent Indian murders of whites and entertained all travelers.
In the mid-1830, when Americans began arriving in Oregon to farm, McLoughlin extended them credit until their crops could be harvested. Hudson's Bay Company officials complained of his losses from failures to repay these loans, but he replied that on humanitarian grounds he could not refuse to help the newcomers. In 1846, when the present international boundary was drawn, McLoughlin resigned.
He filed a claim for land embracing the falls of the Willamette River, built a mill, and laid out Oregon City. Although he signed a declaration of intent to become an American citizen, in 1850 Congress nullified his claim because of many American protests and gave the land to the territory for a future state university. McLoughlin never moved from Oregon City, however; he died there on Sept. 3, 1857.
He opened Oregon to permanent settlement by proving its agricultural potential. He was later known as the "Father of Oregon" for his role in assisting the American cause in the Oregon Country in the Pacific Northwest. In the late 1840s his general store in Oregon City was famous as the last stop on the Oregon Trail.
In 1847, McLoughlin was given the Knighthood of St. Gregory, bestowed on him by Pope Gregory XVI. In 1953, the state of Oregon donated to the National Statuary Hall Collection a bronze statue of McLoughlin, which is currently displayed at the Capitol Visitor Center. Many public works in Oregon are named after him, including: The John McLoughlin Bridge, McLoughlin Boulevard, the street name of Oregon Route 99E between Oregon City and Portland
Though baptized Roman Catholic, he was raised Anglican and in his later life he returned to the Roman Catholic faith.
The Indians called him "White Eagle" because of his long white hair, and American travelers described the 6-foot 4-inch "Father of Oregon" as dignified and imposing.
McLoughlin's wife Marguerite was metis, the daughter of an aboriginal woman and one of the original partners of the North West Company, Jean-Étienne Waddens. She was the widow of Alexander McKay, a trader killed in the Tonquin incident. Her son Thomas became McLoughlin's stepson. John McLoughlin lost one son to a violent death.
