Maria Machin was born in Sherbrooke and raised in Québec City. She completed her education in England by training as a nurse under Florence Nightingale at St. Thomas' Hospital, London. From 1875 to 1877 she headed the first group of professional nurses to work in the Montreal General Hospital. She returned to England to become matron of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, London, a position she held until 1881, when she married a Mr. Redpath and moved to South Africa. Mrs. Redpath established a hospital in Bloemfontein, and later nursed at Kimberley during the Boer War. She died in South Africa.

Alexander Taylor Machattie was born in 1842, in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

He was an analytical chemist in London, Ontario. Around 1868 he founded and operated the Ontario Chemical Works, a subsidiary of the British company, Western Canada Oil Lands, producing sulphuric acid. In 1878, it was taken over by the Canada Chemical Manufacturing Company.

In 1868, he married Mary Ann Craig (1845-). He died in September 1879, in Manchester, Lancashire, England.

Rev. Peter Gordon MacGregor was born in 1816 in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, the son of Rev. James Drummond MacGregor (1759-1830).

He was a Presbyterian clergyman. He began his ministry in Guysborough and continued in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He believed that social reform, especially literacy and education, could affect general improvement and bring individual success. He was the father of James Gordon MacGregor (1852-1913), a Canadian physicist.

In 1849, he married Caroline MacColl (1826–). He died in 1886, in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

Rev. James MacGregor was born on July 11, 1832, in Brownhill, Scone, Perthshire, Scotland.

He was a Scottish minister and philanthropist. He was educated at Scone Parish School and Perth Academy. He studied divinity at St. Andrews University (1848-1855) and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Perth in 1855. He spent his life serving in several churches: Paisley High Church (1855-1862); Monimail Church in Fife (1862-1864), Tron Church in Glasgow (1864-1868); Tron Kirk in Edinburgh (1868-1873); and finally, St. Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh (1873-1910). St. Andrews University awarded him an honorary degree of D.D. in 1870. In 1876, he was made the official chaplain to the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1886, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1891. In 1877, he was elected chaplain to the Royal Scottish Academy. He was also made chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria (1886), chaplain to King Edward VII (1901), and King George V (1910). In 1881, he accompanied marquis Lorne, governor-general of Canada, on a trip to Canada to inspect the progress of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1889, he represented Scotland in Australia's jubilee celebration of the Presbyterian Church. He contributed articles about his travels to Scotsman. The town of MacGregor, Manitoba, was named after him during his Canadian visit.

In 1864, he married Helen King Robertson (1848–1875), and in 1892, he married Helen Murray (–1930). He died on November 25, 1910, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

James Drummond MacGregor was the first Gaelic-speaking minister to settle in Pictou, Nova Scotia.