Born and raised in Montreal, author Anna Rebecca Gale was the oldest daughter of the well-known family of Judge Samuel Gale, a judge in the Supreme Court of Lower Canada. Following her father’s death in 1865, Anna and her two sisters traveled throughout Europe. She published her first book of poems, “Studies for poems,” in 1877, the year before her marriage in 1878. At the age of 38, she married American geologist and chemist Thomas Sterry Hunt (1826-1892), who was already a famous scientist. He had been in Canada since 1847 working on the Canadian Geological Survey under Sir William Logan, a job he continued to do until 1872. He also taught at Université Laval in 1857 and at McGill University from 1862 until at least 1868. He was a member of many organizations, often as president, and he contributed to many scientific journals. The couple lived in Boston while Hunt was teaching geology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; as a faculty wife, Anna met various literary figures such as Henry Wadworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes. She and Hunt had no children and separated in 1884. Anna wrote a second book of poems entitled “In Bohemia and other studies for poems” in 1905. In 1914, she published two novels, After Many Days and Disturbers; she wrote the latter under the pseudonym "Claude Berwick Canadienne." She died in London and is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.

Geochemist Thomas Sterry Hunt was born in Norwich, Connecticut, and educated at Yale. In 1846 Hunt, then an employee of the Vermont Geological Survey, was hired by William Logan as a chemist for the Geological Survey of Canada. While at the survey, he undertook routine tasks of field exploration, chemical analysis of minerals, mining surveys, and administration. From his empirical laboratory experience he developed an interest in theoretical problems, which eventually produced the totally chemistry-based geology of his revolutionary "Report on the Chemistry of the Earth" (1870). Hunt's prolific publishing, as well as his important discoveries on petroleum and the chemistry of crystalline rocks, earned him an international reputation. In 1872, unsatisfied with the new administration of the Geological Survey, Hunt departed for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He stayed there only until 1878, for though he had taught at Laval (1856-1863) and McGill (1862-1868), he did not enjoy educational work. Hunt never again found a truly remunerative or satisfying position. However, he remained a very active member of numerous scientific organizations, including the Royal Society of Canada, of which he was president in 1884, continued to publish, and revisited Canada frequently.

Hunt was a British journalist.

Alexander Donaldson Hunter was born in Airdrie, Scotland. In 1881, he and his wife traveled to Montreal, where their twin sons were born. While in Montreal, he worked as a clerk. In 1886 he returned to Scotland with his family, and went to work in the coal industry.