Annie Ford McKnight was the oldest surviving child of a large brood born in Iuka, Tishomingo, Mississippi to Tennessee grocer and merchant Charles Wesley McKnight. Her mother, Mattie E. McCutcheon, had lost her first child, Austin Sims when he was two in 1883, and another child was stillborn earlier that year. Giving birth to Charley M. (4/27/1887) weakened her considerably, and Mattie died a week later on May 3, 1887. Charles married Nancy Lilla Cotton in November of 1891. She subsequently gave birth to Alma Erwin (9/19/1892), Elsie (3/13/1894), William W. (6/18/1895), Robert Lyle (10/2/1898), Nancy L. (1900), Della Leota (8/9/1902), Albert J. (9/20/1905), and two others that did not survive infancy. By 1905 Annie had a total of eight living siblings.

The 1910 enumeration showed that Annie had left her Mississippi home. She was not located in that record, but had likely gone to Georgia by that time, working as a music teacher. One of her student recitals was listed in the October, 1910 edition of the Etude music magazine, including the selections they were playing at that time. Her only known piece, Cotton States Rag, was published by Cocroft Music in Thomasville, Georgia, in early 1910, which was run in part by fellow female composer Nellie Weldon Cocroft.

In 1912 Annie married druggist George Alden Wight of Atlanta, Georgia. While he had been working as a druggist, by 1913 he was co-owner of the Wight-Davis company with R.F. Davis, and they dealt in the import and export business of fruits. The Wights were found in Atlanta directories of the 1910s. Annie was evidently working as a music teacher still, but was not separately listed in the Atlanta directories.

By the time of the 1920 enumeration, taken in Atlanta, George was running the Southern Marble and Granite works, part of the O.F. Whitten Company. He was shown in this capacity in Atlanta directories from 1918 through 1923. By 1925 the couple had moved south to Miami, Florida, where George formed the Wight and Johnson Real-Estate firm with B.M. Johnson. He was shown in directories from 1926 into the early 1930s as an agent. In 1932 Annie was mentioned in an article on Florida Poets, with a hint that she had possibly submitted some poetry:

By 1935 George was back working as a druggist. Annie, who had not shown any occupation previously, was listed in the 1935 Florida census as working for the University of Miami, possibly as a music teacher in a consulting or contract position.For the 1940 enumeration she was again listed without an occupation, although George was still shown to be as a druggist in 1940 and for the 1945 Florida state and 1950 Federal enumerations when he was well into his sixties.

In spite of a lack of occupational listings for Annie, she was still active with the National Federation of Music Clubs and wrote articles for them from time to time. Based on excerpts from that magazine she wrote much more music than was located for this entry, and was noted as a "distinguished Florida composer. One article submitted by Annie was "Dynamo in the Musical Life of Miami."

George died in June of 1960, but Annie kept going in her various musical pursuits. According to the Miami News of February 9, 1964, she was one of a handful of featured composers in the Parade of American Music program sponsored by the Miami Music Club. She lived in Miami until her death in 1978 at age 92.