John Hamilton O’Neil was born in 1848 in Hamilton, ON, to Irish immigrants John O’Neil (1806-1857) and Rosanna Leadman (1823-1889). John was a journalist on staff with the in his youth. Married to Hannah MacGowan (c1855-1894) some time before 1875, he appears on the 1875 New York census as a compositor. In 1881, the O’Neil family were again in Hamilton, where John worked as a printer. He was foreman of the Hamilton in the late 1880s. According to biographical descriptions of his daughter, he was active in the development of Canadian journalism.

After Hannah’s death, John married his neighbour, Mary Elizabeth (“Lizzy”) Breen Livernois. John died in 1928 in Hamilton.

Hannah MacGowan, sometimes spelled “McGowan,” was born in about 1855 in New York, to Irish immigrants Patrick MacGowan (b. c1830) and Elizabeth (b. c1830). She married John O’Neil (1848-1928) some time before 1875. The couple stayed in Brooklyn until the late 1870s, when they returned to his hometown, Hamilton, ON. A day after delivering her eighth child, Hannah died of “puerperal albuminuria,” a painful condition resulting from childbirth complications.

John was born in New York.

Charles died of diphtheria.

Leon was a barrister.

Thomas was an accountant and secretary-treasurer of Jolley Motors Company.

James was a reporter in Hamilton in his youth, and later was a telegraph editor, city editor, managing editor, and editor-in-chief at the Hamilton for over 50 years.

Robert Tait McKenzie, called “Tait,” was born in 1867 in Almonte, ON, to Scottish immigrants William McKenzie (d. c1876), a minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and Catherine Shiells. Tait attended high school in Almonte, followed by further schooling at the Collegiate Institute in Ottawa, a BA from McGill, and an MPE (Master of Physical Education) from Springfield College in Massachusetts. In the late 1890s and early twentieth century, following work as a surgeon at Montreal General Hospital, he held various instructor positions at McGill University, Harvard University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Following his 1907 wedding to Ethel O’Neil (1878-1952), Tait took up sculpting in earnest, only breaking from it temporarily during the First World War, when he served overseas in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Returning to Philadelphia after the war, Tait excelled in his artistic pursuits, finding opportunity to exhibit his pieces internationally. His most renowned works, housed in the Canadian Parliament and in London, feature political subjects.

During the last few years of his life, Tait dedicated much of his time to converting an old mill into a vacation residence in his hometown of Almonte. Tait died in Philadelphia in 1938 and was buried there, at Saint Peter’s Episcopal Church. His Almonte home later became the Tait McKenzie Memorial Museum.