Elisha Joseph Fessenden was born on February 18, 1837, in Armada, Macomb County, Michigan.

He was a clergyman. In 1865, he was ordained Minister of the Anglican Church. He lived first in East Bolton, Quebec and in 1872, he was called to minister in Fergus, Ontario, followed by Chippawa near Niagara Falls in 1878. From 1893 until his death in 1896, Rev. Fessenden was Rector of St. John's Anglican Church, Ancaster, Ontario.

In 1865, he married Clementina Trenholm (1843–1918). He died on January 18, 1896, in Ancaster, Wentworth County, Ontario.

An 1899 graduate from McGill University in electrical engineering, Edward P. Featherstonhaugh (pronounced “Fanshaw”) became the first professor of electrical engineering in Manitoba when the University of Manitoba established the department there in 1909. He married Ruth Minna Harrington, one of Sir William Dawson’s granddaughters, in 1908. After her death in 1913, he enlisted for overseas duty in World War I and followed officer training; he rose from lieutenant with the Canadian engineers to captain, then major in 1918. He earned the Military Cross in 1917. After the war he returned to Winnipeg to marry Margaret Adele Bain in 1924. He continued to teach there until his retirement.

McGill graduate Harold Featherstonhaugh became an architect renowned for such Montreal landmarks as the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul and the Birks building which now houses the McGill Faculty of Religious Studies. He was a lieutenant in the Artillery Field Regiment before World War I; he then served in the 39th Battery during the war and was awarded the Military Cross in 1917. Earlier, he had worked with Edward and William Sutherland Maxwell, then in 1923 after the war, he became a partner in an architectural firm with J.C. McDougall; in 1934 he began working on his own until 1955.

Elie Feuerwerker was born on December 2, 1948, in Paris, France.

She is a French American biologist and educator. She earned her B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. in biology from the Université de Montréal (1971-1983). After moving to the United States in 1989, she became a naturalized citizen in 1999. She completed postdoctoral research at Harvard University. She held research positions at Boston University’s Center for the Philosophy and History of Science (1987-1988) and McGill University’s Neurological Institute (1987-1989). From 1994 to 2000, Dr. Feuerwerker taught biology at the Lycée Français de New York.