Charles Gordon was born in Glengarry County, Ontario. His father was a Scottish Presbyterian minister who came to Canada to preach to the Scottish settlement near Sherbrook in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Gordon graduated from the University of Toronto and then attended Knox College. He began his church work as a missionary in Southern Manitoba and was ordained in Calgary in 1890. In 1894, he came to Winnipeg to the pulpit of St. Stephen's where he remained to the end of his ministerial career. Gordon began his writing career in 1896 with a short story for the Presbyterian paper The Westminster Magazine. When he wrote his first book Black Rock: A Tale of the Selkirks, he introduced his pen-name "Ralph Connor". By the time he wrote The Sky Pilot (1899), he had established his name in literary circles. He also wrote The Man From Glengarry (1901), Glengarry School Days (1901), The Prospector (1904), The Life of James Robertson (1908) and The Foreigner (1909). In total, Gordon wrote over thirty novels, five million copies of which were sold around the world.

The University of Manitoba first became involved in legal education in 1885 when it established a three-year course of studies leading to the LL.B. degree. This course did not include instruction, it simply prescribed a reading program with three annual examinations, which articled law students couId follow concurrently with the course prescribed by the Law Society. In the years 1911-1912, the Law Society was prompted by the Law Students Association to provide a short series of lectures. In 1913, H.A. Robson, then Manitoba's Public Utilities Commissioner and a former judge of the Court of King's Bench, organized a considerably improved course of lectures and began to lay the plans for the establishment in the following year of a permanent law school modeled after the Osgoode Hall Law School of the Law Society of Upper Canada.

The Manitoba Law School was jointly sponsored by The University of Manitoba and the Law Society of Manitoba. Both bodies took part in the planning from the beginning. In the summer of 1914, they entered into an agreement, subsequently endorsed by legislation, which provided for the creation of the School, offering a three-year course consisting of lectures and apprenticeship leading to both an LL.B. degree and a call to the Bar and admission to practice. Expenses of the School were shared equally by the two parent bodies, and its operations were supervised by a jointly appointed Board of Trustees. This arrangement between The University of Manitoba and the Law Society of Manitoba continued until 1966 when the Law School became the Faculty of Law of the University of Manitoba.

The Faculty of Law presently offers programs of study leading to two degrees, the LL.B. and the LL.M. The latter degree program was brought into existence in 1949 by the Manitoba Law School. It was substantially revamped by the Faculty of Law in 1968.

Dr. Thomas Glendenning Hamilton was born in Agincourt, Ontario on November 27th, 1873. In 1883, the family moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and in 1891 his father passed, after which the family relocated again to Winnipeg. T.G. Hamilton attended Manitoba College (later becoming the University of Winnipeg), and graduated with his medical degree in 1903. In 1906 he married his wife, Lillian Hamilton, and in 1910 he set up his private practice in his home in Elmwood, North Kildonan. Together they had four children: Margaret, Glen, and twins Arthur and James. In 1915 he became President of the Manitoba Medical Association, while also serving as a member of the provincial legislature. He became interested in Spiritualism after the death of his son Arthur in 1918. The aim of his investigations into paranormal phenomena was to perform them under scientific conditions in order to minimize the possibility of error and subsequently “prove” the existence of an afterlife. Dr. Hamilton became well-known in the UK, Europe and the United States for his experiments, and was the President of the Winnipeg Society for Psychical Research. In 1923 he was appointed as the representative for Manitoba at the Canadian Medical Association; a position which he held until 1931. T.G. Hamilton died suddenly of a heart attack in 1935, after which time his wife Lillian and daughter Margaret continued his experiments.

Tim Brandt established Heaven Art and Books Café October 1, 1994 as a membership run centre for Winnipeg’s arts and literature community. The café was located on 659 Corydon Avenue in Winnipeg, Manitoba and ran at this location for 6 years ceasing operation in 1999. The bookstore hosted art shows, worked as an art gallery, provided live music, and monthly reading events. The café provided patrons with a café and information kiosk on community events relating to the arts, as well as it sold local, Canadian, and international books and magazines.

Colin Inkster was born on August 3, 1843 at Kildonan in Red River (modern Winnipeg). His parents were the merchant John Inkster and Mary Sinclair. He was educated at the Anglican St. John's College. He was a member and Speaker of the first Legislative Council of Manitoba, a Rector's Warden at St. John's Cathedral, and Sheriff of Manitoba for 52 years. He died in 1934 and is buried in St. John's Cemenetary. Colin and his wife Ann Tait (1852-1925) had five children: Rupert Finleyson Inkster (1874-1930), Colin Robertson Sinclair Inkster (1876-1961), Myra Jane McMurray Inkster (1878-1938), Annie Sibyl McKay Inkster (1880-1974), and James Richard Hardisty Inkster (1886-1970). Rupert F. Inkster worked as a bank manager and immigration official before succeeding his father as Sheriff in 1928. Sibyl was the last family member to live in the family home, the Bleak House, which is now a historic site on 1637 Main Street, Winnipeg. The family also owned and farmed the Oxbow Woods area on Lake Manitoba in the early twentieth century.

George Johnston (1896-1973) was born in County Tipperary, Ireland on February 1, 1886 and immigrated to Canada in 1906. He was married to Elizabeth Ellen Thompson and had two children: Helen Frances Mensch (nee Johnston) and George Henry Johnston. Johnston worked for the T. Eaton Company for two years. He also worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway in Winnipeg for 43 years from 1908 to 1951. Afterwards, he worked for the Searle Grain Company for tens years from 1951 until 1961.
Johnston was a member of the 90th Battalion Royal Winnipeg Rifles from 1907-1909 and was a member of that unit’s contingent that was sent to Quebec’s Tercentenary celebration in 1908. During the the First World War, Johnston served with the 12th Canadian Field Ambulance from April 1916 to May 1919. Johnston was actively involved in the 12th Field Ambulance Association from 1920 to 1970, as he attended all of the association’s annual meetings and served as its president in 1965.
Johnston worshiped at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in St. Vital, and served on the vestry from 1936 until 1970. Johnston also belonged to the Ancient Order of Foresters for 57 years and was a member of the St. John’s Ambulance Association for many years.
Johnston died on May 8, 1973 at the age of 87.

Fredelle Maynard (nee Bruser) was born in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan in 1922. She was raised in rural Manitoba and Saskatchewan until her family settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1943 she obtained her B. A. (English) from the University of Manitoba. She received her M. A. (English) from the University of Toronto and her Ph. D. (English Literature) from Radcliffe College (Harvard University) in 1947. The following year she married Max Maynard and they had two daughters, Rona and Joyce. In the 1950’s Maynard began publishing articles in magazines on topics such as childcare, health, education, marriage and family, becoming a noted expert on childcare and parenting. Maynard left her husband following the publication of her first book, Raisins and Almonds, and they subsequently divorced. In the 1970’s Maynard moved to Toronoto, Ontario and continued to publish both magazine articles and books. In 1985 she published The Child Care Crisis, and in 1988 her final book, The Tree of Life, was published. Maynard was also popular for her role in hosting two television shows on parenting. In 1989 she was diagnosed with brain cancer. She married her longtime companion Sydney Bacon that spring and later died on October 3, 1989.

Joyce Maynard was born in Durham, New Hampshire in 1953. She first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life” in 1972. In the 1980’s Joyce began her career as a novelist with her first book, Baby Love (1981). Her second novel, To Die For (1992), was later adapted into a film. In 1998 she drew a great deal of attention with the publication of her memoir, At Home in the World, which deals with her affair with J. D. Salinger.
Both Joyce and her sister, Rona Maynard, wrote a great deal about their mother following her death, publishing stories including the book, My Mother's Daughter and articles about Fredelle in a number of magazines and newspapers.

Rona Maynard was born in 1949. In her working life she became an editor and writer. A career in journalism, including a spell at Maclean’s, led in time to her becoming editor of Chatelaine in 1995. Since leaving Chatelaine in 2004, she has worked as a freelance writer, while also lecturing about mental health, memory, and storytelling.