Horace Bushnell was an American Congregational minister and theologian. He had a marked influence upon theology in America, and wrote various books on religion. He was also a graduate from Yale Divinity School.

Nathaniel Parker Willis, also known as N. P. Willis, was an American writer, poet and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day. His brother was the composer Richard Storrs Willis and his sister Sara wrote under the name Fanny Fern. Harriet Jacobs wrote her autobiography while being employed as his children's nurse.