Nancy W. Knight (maiden name: Hamilton) was born around 1821 in Waterboro, Maine, to Adriel and Lovey Hamilton. Her father was a farmer who owned $3,000 of real estate by 1850. She married Alvin Knights on June 19, 1842, and the couple apparently had no children. They lived in Waterboro, and her husband worked as a farmer. By 1850, they owned $600 of real estate.
They moved to Hollis, Maine, in the 1850s, and by 1860, they owned $2,000 of real estate and $200 of personal property. A decade later, their wealth had increased to $3,000 of real estate and $350 of personal property. She died of heart disease in Hollis on May 24, 1903.