Jesse Knight was born September 6, 1845, in Nauvoo, Illinois to Newel and Lydia Goldthwaite Knight. His family, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints, left Nauvoo for the Salt Lake Valley in 1846, but did not arrive until 1850. In 1857, his family relocated to Provo, Utah, where Knight bought and sold cattle. After marrying Amanda McEwan in 1869, Knight and his family ranched in Payson, Utah. In 1896, he discovered a silver mine near Eureka, Utah, that gave him great wealth. He later started the Tintic Drain Tunnel Company and served as president of the Knight Investment Company, Knight Trust & Savings Bank, Springville-Mapleton Sugar Company, Spring Canyon Coal Company, Knight Woolen Mills, Eureka Hill Railroad, Ellison Ranching Company, Nevada, Knight Sugar Company in Canada, American-Colombian Corporation, South America, and about twenty other mining companies. He generously contributed to Brigham Young University and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was often referred to as "Uncle Jesse" for his kindness and generosity. Besides mining, Knight was successful in farming sugar beets. Jesse and Amanda Knight raised six children. He died on March 14, 1921, in a town he settled, Raymond, Alberta, Canada.

Mark Knight Allen was born on October 22, 1905, in Provo, Utah to Robert Eugene Allen and Amanda Inez Knight. He was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was baptized in 1913. Allen earned his bachelor's degree at Brigham Young University, and later completed a master's degree and Ph.D. at Stanford University. In 1934, he married Phyllis Sloan and began work as a psychologist and assistant superintendent at the Utah State Training School in American Fork, Utah. He remained there until 1946, when he joined the psychology faculty at Brigham Young University. Allen remained at the university until his retirement in 1975, during that time serving as department chair for ten years. He also received a Fulbright Scholarship, spending a year teaching psychology at the University of Ankara, Turkey and Middle East Technical University. He died on January 30, 1996, in Provo, Utah.