John E. Dougherty was born in Perth, Ontario, Canada, in 1841. He taught school near Ottawa for four years. In 1870 he came to Montana Territory and taught school for a year. In 1871 he bought Billy Quinn's general store in Radersburg, which at that time was a bustling mining town. The J.E. Dougherty store sold general merchandise and farm implements to the local farmers and miners, until it closed in 1886. In addition to the store, Dougherty had a farm in the Crow Creek valley. Daugherty married Eliza Jane Clark on February 7, 1875. They had three children. John E. Dougherty died in an accident in 1905.
From the guide to the J.E. Dougherty Store Records, 1870-1887, (Montana Historical Society Archives)