John H. Fouch was born on July 9, 1849 in either Morgan county or Kenton, Harden County Ohio. He was the youngest of six children, and his father deserted the family when he was eight months old. His mother eventually remarried. John Fouch was too young to fight in the Civil War, but one of his brothers and biological father were killed in the War.

By age 19, he lived in Minnesota by Lake Minnetonka, where he owned a photo studio. While there, he married Jane C. Tennis. However, she gave birth to a still born son, and died two days later. In 1883, Fouch married Celeste Read, and they had six children. One died in childbirth, but the rest are recorded in photographs taken by Fouch.

After the death of his first wife, Fouch moved to the Montana Territory at the Contonment Tongue River (For Keogh), where he owned a studio in 1877. He photographed Chief Joseph after he surrendered in at Fort Keogh, and was also the first to capture the Custer Battlefield and Custer's Crow scout. In 1878, he visited Yellowstone and took 16 photographs that were included in the "Stereoscopic Views of the Yellowstone Country." In 1879 he moved back to his home in Minnesota, where he reproduced the photos in the "Artistic Views of the Yellowstone Country and Yellowstone National Park, Series of 1876, 1877, and 1878." Most of the Yellowstone photos came from the summer of 1878. Fouch died August 7, 1933 in Glendale, California.