William Francis Ganong (1864-1941) was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and educated at the universities of New Brunswick (BA 1884, MA 1886, PhD 1898) Harvard (BA 1887) and Munich (PhD 1894. For 38 years he was professor of Botany at Smith College in Massachusetts. In the summers he conducted research in New Brunswick for his writing on the history and geography of the province.

In 1888 he married the sister of Bliss Carmen and in 1924 he married Ann Hobbet. He published extensively on history and natural history including annotated translations of early French explorers.

James Hannay (1842-1910) son of the Reverend James and Jane (Salter) Hannay, was born in Richibucto, New Brunswick. Educated in Scotland, he studied law in Saint John, New Brunswick and was admitted to the bar in 1866. In 1864 he married Margaret Ross, daughter of Elias T. Ross of Saint John.

In 1867 Hannay became reporter of the Supreme Court, holding that position until 1873. He was associate editor of the "Saint John Telegraph" (1883-1884), associate editor of the "Montreal Herald," general writer and finally associate editor of the "Brooklyn Eagle," and chief editor of the "Saint John Gazette".

A writer of prose and poetry, he published poems under the pseudonym "Saladin" and several works under his own name, including "The Ballads of Acadia, An Apostrophe to the River St. John, Captivity of John Gyles" (1875), "History of Acadia" (1879), "Story of the Queen's Rangers" (1883), "A History of the War of 1812", and "The Life and Times of Sir Leonard Tilley".