Lily May McCargar was born on December 14, 1887 at Maxville, Ontario. She was educated in Ontario and attended the Margaret Eaton School of Literature and Expression in Toronto. She moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in 1909 to teach English to members of the Chinese Methodist Mission Church. She joined the Woman's Missionary Society in 1921 as a mission worker, and was sent to Vancouver to work with the kindergarten at the Chinese Methodist Church (which came under The United Church of Canada in 1925). In 1933, she chose to use her year of furlough by traveling to China to study Cantonese. Before returning to Canada, she visited Jerusalem, Egypt, German, and the United Kingdom. During a second furlough, she attended the lectures at the Canadian School of Missions and at Emmanuel College in Toronto. Lily McCargar died on November 6, 1947 at Vancouver.
Richmond Street began as a splinter congregation coming out of the Adelaide Street Methodist Church (1832), forming the George Street British Wesleyan Church in the city. In 1837 the group returned to Adelaide Street, but in 1840 they again left that congregation. In 1845 a new building was erected on the south side of Richmond Street, between Yonge and Bay streets, the Richmond Street Methodist Church (also considered the 'Cathedral' of Toronto Methodism, because many other churches can draw their roots from this congregation). From 1847 to 1871 the congregation was also known as Toronto West, and in 1872 as Toronto Second. In 1888 the congregation re-located to a building on McCaul Street, opposite Grange Road, and the congregation became known as New Richmond Street or McCaul Street Methodist Church. In 1905 the Toronto Conference reluctantly agreed to the congregation's request that the building be sold to pay off the mortgage.
Robert Baird McClure (1900-1991) was a medical missionary overseas and the first lay Moderator of the United Church. He was born in Portland, Oregon, the son of Dr. William McClure, a Presbyterian medical missionary to China. Bob McClure graduated in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1922. He married Amy Hislop in 1926 and returned to China, where he served as a missionary until 1948. He also served in Gaza, Palestine and Ratlam, India, before he was elected Moderator of The United Church of Canada in 1968. After his term as Moderator, McClure continued to work in Sarawak, Malaysia, Peru, in the West Indies and in Zaire. In 1971, McClure was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Duncan McColl (1754-1830) was a Methodist minister in New Brunswick. He was born in Scotland, raised Calvinist and converted to Methodism. After fighting for Britain against the Thirteen Colonies, he settled in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. He started a Methodist society and became a lay preacher. He was ordained by Bishop Asbury in 1795, and ministered until his health failed in 1829.