Nancy Jane Crist (maiden name: Frazier) was born around 1815 in New York to Robert Frazier. She married Peter M. Crist on October 13, 1843, and their son Lee was born around 1853. They lived in Plainfield, Illinois, and her husband worked as a carpenter. By 1850, they owned $1,600 of real estate. They moved to Durant, Iowa, in the 1860s, and by 1870, their wealth had grown to $11,600 of real estate and $1,315 of personal property. Her husband died on October 17, 1875, and she died sometime after 1880.