Lyman J. Abbott was born on December 18, 1835, in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

He was an American Congregationalist theologian, pastor, editor, lawyer, and author. In 1853, he graduated from the New York University where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1856. He soon abandoned the legal profession, and after studying theology, he was ordained a minister of the Congregational Church in 1860. He was a pastor in Indiana, New England, and New York. He was also an associate editor of Harper's Magazine, editor-in-chief of The Christian Union, renamed The Outlook in 1893, and the founder of a publication called the Illustrated Christian Weekly.

In 1857, he married Abby Frances Hamlin. He died on October 22, 1922, In New York, New York.

Maude Elizabeth Seymour Abbott was born on March 18, 1868, in St. Andrews East, Quebec, and died on September 2, 1940, in Montreal. In 1890, she became one of the first women to graduate with a B.A. from McGill University, but was denied admission to the McGill Medical School, since women were not yet admitted. Abbott attended the University of Bishop’s College and received her medical degree in 1894. Following postgraduate studies in Europe, Abbott returned to Montreal where she met the Chair of Pathology at McGill University, Dr. George Adami, who appointed her Assistant Curator of the Medical Museum in 1898. In addition to her efforts at curating and maintaining the specimen collection at the Medical Museum, Abbott became a renowned teacher and an expert in cardiac disease. In 1924, the Medical Museum and the Pathology Department were moved from Strathcona Building, and Abbott was named curator of the new Central Medical Museum until her retirement in 1936. Abbott was a founding member of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada (FMWC), the International Association of Medical Museums, and helped develop and organize the Canadian Medical War Museum. Her main area of medical interest was pathology and she specialized in congenital heart disease. She taught in McGill's Department of Pathology from 1912 to 1935, was the first woman to be honoured by the Pathological Society of London, and published her authoritative Atlas of Congenital Cardiac Disease in 1936. Her second vocation, one inspired and encouraged by Sir William Osler, lay in museum work and medical history. She was curator of the Medical Historical Museum at McGill and lectured and wrote about various historical topics, her major publication being the History of Medicine in the Province of Quebec (1931). Her honours and awards include: the Lord Stanley Gold Medal (1890), the Senior Anatomy Prize from Bishop’s College (1894), the Chancellor’s Price from Bishop’s College (1894), the Person of National Historic Significance from Parks Canada (1993), and an induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame (1994).

William Abbott, brother of Joseph Abbott, was born in Little Strickland, Westmoreland, England. He began theological studies and then accepted a request from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts to leave his homeland to pursue missionary work in Canada. He came to Canada with his brother in 1818. In 1824, he was ordained deacon by the bishop of Québec, and sent to the mission at Yamaska Mountain (later named Abbotsford). In the following year he exchanged parishes with his brother, at that time Rector of St. Andrews. Under William Abbott's direction, the building of Christ Church, St. Andrews, was completed and the parish consolidated.

John Jacob Abel was born on May 19, 1857, in Cleveland, Ohio.

He was an American biochemist and pharmacologist. He earned his Ph.B. (Bachelor of Philosophy, 1883) from the University of Michigan. He then went to Johns Hopkins University and University of Leipzig and Strasbourg, Germany (M.D., 1888). Abel returned to the University of Michigan as the chair of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, where he played an important role in developing the first pharmacology department in North America. In 1893, Dr. William Osler of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine asked Abel to come to the school and accept a position of America's first full-time Professor of Pharmacology. During his time at Hopkins, he made several important medical advancements, especially in the field of hormone extraction. In addition to his laboratory work, he founded several significant scientific journals such as the Journal of Biological Chemistry and the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.

In 1883, he married Mary H. Hinman (1851–1938). He died on May 28, 1938, in Baltimore, Maryland.

American-born Walter Halsey Abell, one of the first professors of art in Canada, spent much of his early career at Acadia University, in Nova Scotia, where he taught from 1928 to 1943. While there, he helped found the Maritime Art Association and was founding editor of the magazine, Maritime Art (1940), the first magazine in Canada about the visual arts and the precursor of Canadian Art (1943). He became noted for his theoretical Marxist and psychological viewpoints on art. In 1943 he moved to Ottawa to briefly join the staff of the National Gallery of Canada before heading to Michigan State University. He taught there until his death in 1956.

Ishbel Maria Hamilton-Gordon, Marchioness of Aberdeen and Temair (née Isabel Maria Marjoribanks), was born on March 15, 1857, in London, England.

She was a British writer, philanthropist, and an advocate of women's interests. She received a well-rounded education in English, French, mathematics, history, and geography. In 1877, she married John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, the 7th Earl of Aberdeen (later the 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair). An intelligent and determined woman, she soon established her own political life as an activist. She founded the Onwards and Upward Association, which provided servant girls with postal courses on topics ranging from geography to literature to domestic science. In 1883, she became the first president of the Ladies’ Union of Aberdeen, an organization that focused on the well-being of young women living in cities. In 1893, her husband Lord Aberdeen was appointed the Governor General of Canada, a post he would occupy until 1898. She became viceregal consort of Canada from 1893 to 1898 and of Ireland from 1906 to 1915. In Canada, she hosted many popular social events, such as winter festivals and costume balls, and was more politically involved than her predecessors. She travelled extensively, attending events, and collecting information for her husband. In 1893, Lady Aberdeen was named the first president of the International Council of Women, an organization campaigning for women's rights. Consequently, she organized the National Council of Women of Canada and travelled the country establishing local branches. She also helped establish the Victorian Order of Nurses, which aimed to give women better training and a higher salary so they could provide services to rural and disadvantaged populations. Lord and Lady Aberdeen retired to their home in Scotland but continued to be involved in social causes. Together they wrote a memoir, “We Twa” (1925). The Canadian Journal of Lady Aberdeen, 1893–1898, edited by John Saywell, was published by the Champlain Society in 1960. In 1894, she received the Freedom of Limerick; in 1928, the Freedom of Edinburgh and she was invested Dame Grand Cross in the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1931.

She died on April 18, 1939, in Rubislaw, Aberdeen, Scotland.

John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, was born on August 3, 1847, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

He studied at the University of St Andrews and University College, Oxford. He succeeded as the 7th Earl of Aberdeen following the death of his eldest brother, George, 6th Earl of Aberdeen, in January 1870. The same year he entered the House of Lords. He became Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire in 1880, served as Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (1881-1885, 1915), and was briefly appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1886. He served as Governor General of Canada from 1893 to 1898 during a period of political transition. He travelled extensively throughout the country and is described as having "transformed the role of Governor General from that of the aristocrat representing the King or Queen in Canada to a symbol representing the interests of all citizens." He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1895. He was again appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1905 and served until 1915. During his tenure, he also served as Lord Rector of the University of St. Andrews (1913–1916), was created a Knight Companion of the Order of the Thistle (1906) and was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (1911). Following his retirement, he was created Earl of Haddo, in the County of Aberdeen, and Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, in the County of Aberdeen, in the County of Meath and in the County of Argyll, in January 1916.

In 1877, he married Ishbel Maria Marjoribanks (1857–1939). He died on March 7, 1934, in Tarland, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.