Mr. Walter MacKay Draycott was born 1883 in England and emigrated to Canada and Fort William in 1907. He moved to Vancouver in 1911 and then settled in Lynn Valley in 1912, He left to serve in WW1 with the Princess Patricia Canadian Light Infantry. He returned to Lynn Valley in 1918, and published his first history of that community the following year. He served as Justice of the Peace from 1923 to 1975 and was a school trustee for three years in the 1920s. He was a feature writer for the North Vancouver and Vancouver newspapers on an irregular basis, particularly in the 1920s and 1930s, and an occasional contributor to scientific journals. He was employed by the Geological Survey of Canada for various months from 1949 to 1952. In 1972, he opened the first North Shore Museum and Archives building. His second history of the Lynn Valley, "Early Days in the Lynn Valley" was printed in 1978.
Mrs. Jessie Catherine Crawford (nee Baker, d. 1971), of Owen Sound, Ont., took a one-year kindergarten assistants' course followed by one year at the Toronto Normal School before coming to teach at Port Arthur. In September 1908, the year she left the Toronto school, she was engaged as the first kindergarten director of the Port Arthur Public School System and operated out of Cornwall School under its principal Miss Gowanlock. She had one assistant, Miss Mills. Later she married Joseph Crawford a chartered accountant and politician (he served as Mayor and MPP in Fort William).
Helmer Borg (b. Greefe, Sweden, 25 Dec. 1900-d. Thunder Bay, 3 Oct. 1973) was a special field representative of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America for the Lumber and Sawmill Workers' Union, primarily Local 2693, Port Arthur. He was a field representative in 1953 and was appointed special representative on 26 May 1954. His employment was terminated on 5 July 1958, due primarily to his inability to change with the times (to communicate effectively with modern-day workers). After 1958 he did mostly odd jobs. He lived in Port Arthur.
Peter McKellar, along with his brothers John, Donald, and Archibald, was a pioneer of Fort William. He was born of Capt. Duncan McKellary and Margaret Brodie of Glencoe, Ont.. He became a surveyor in upper Michigan in 1853 and came to Thunder Bay in search of mineral wealth in the 1860s, settling in 1863. McKellar staked many mining claims along the North Shore of Lake Superior in partnership with his brothers and others, discovering Thunder Bay Silver Mine in 1866, Black Bay Bonanza in 1865, and Huronian Gold Mine in 1871. He was Municipal Health Officer in 1873 and played a prominent role in the selection of the Lake Superior terminus of the transcontinental railway in 1873. He edited and published the first local newspaper, the Perambulator, in 1874. He was reeve for McTavish ward on the first Shuniah municipal council in 1874, was a charter member of the Kaministiquia Club in 1879 and was on the committee to negotiate the dismantling of the Hudson's Bay Co. fort and the establishment of Thunder Bay harbour in 1881. McKellar was involved in land sales to the C.P.R. for its shops and principal works. He donated land for the first St. Andrew's Presbyterian Chruch in 1889 and laid the cornerstone of the new church in 1908. He also donated with his brother Donald land for McKellar Hospital in 1900. He married Carlotta Burgess Spence (1874-1960). Peter McKellar was the founder of the Thunder Bay Historical Society in 1908 and served as its president from 1908 to 1923. He was also known as a writer and research on geology, mineral resources, and historical subjects.
Rev. S. C. Murray was minister of St. Paul's Presbyterian church in Port Arthur from 1893 to 1911. He was a Christian Socialist actively involved in the local labour movement. He was also convener of the Home Mission Committee of the Presbyterian Church of Canada an chairman of the Educational Committee of the Port Arthur Board of Education.
William Wilson (b. Dec. 20, 1833 in Scotland-d. 1930 in Port Arthur) was a master miller in Scotland and a farmer in Canada. He emigrated to the Lakehead in May 1889 from Ayrshire, Scotland, with his wife Agnes and six children. Their first home was called Rockford Farm near the present day St. Patrick's Square and three years later they moved to Privick Hall, six miles from Port Arthur.