Born in Cape Breton, C. H. ("Bunty") McLeod received his Bachelor of Applied Science from McGill in 1873 as part of the first graduating class in this Faculty. After his graduation he took charge of the McGill Observatory, where he had been trained in his student days as an assistant observer. He also worked for the railways on problems of time-keeping, and for the Newfoundland government as a surveyor. In 1876 he joined the teaching staff at McGill, and rose to become Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Applied Science. As a scientist, McLeod's major work was done in connection with the McGill Observatory which he directed for over forty years. It was here that he established the exact longitude of Montréal in 1892. Under his direction, the Observatory became the base station for Canada; its time-signals constituted one of the most widely-distributed time services of the period.

McLeod was a magistrate and a trader and partner in the North West Company.

Archibald Normal McLeod was born in 1772 in Kilfinichen, Scotland, and died around 1840 in Sunnybank, Aberdeenshire. He was the fifth son of Neil McLeod (1729-1780) and Margaret MacLean (1737-1789). McLeod married an unknown Indigenous woman. He entered the North West Company as a clerk sometime before 1793 and became a partner in 1796. From 1794 to 1795, he was stationed in the Lower Fort des Prairies department and in 1800 to 1801, oversaw the Swan River district, wintering in Fort Alexandria, where he kept a journal that survives. From 1802 to 1808, McLeod was working in the Athabasca district and in 1805, he established Fort Dunvegan, named after his family’s ancestral home, Dunvegan Castle. McLeod retired from wintering in 1809. That same year, he was named justice of the peace for the western territories and in 1810, was named justice of the peace for Montreal. In 1816, McLeod was one of the instigators at the massacre of Seven Oaks, where the rivalry between the North West Company and the Hudson’s Bay Company left twenty settlers killed. McLeod later served as master of the barracks in Belfast until around 1838.

William McLennan, the son of grain merchant Hugh McLennan, was born in Montréal. After obtaining a law degree from McGill (1880), he practiced as a notary. His major life's work, however, lay in literature. McLennan played an active role in the contemporary movement to popularize Québec history and culture through his translations of folk-songs and through short stories and novels set in Québec, such as Spanish John (1898), Old France and New (1899) and As Told to His Grace (1891). Another historical romance, The span of life (1899) was written in collaboration with Jean McIlwraith.