Anna Haight was born Anna Bissell on 2 October 1834 in St. Louis to Captain Lewis Bissell and his wife, the former Mary Woodbridge.

Anna met Henry Haight, a San Francisco attorney, in St. Louis, and married him on 24 January 1855.

They sailed from New York on 20 February, bound for San Francisco.

They had five children, Janette, Mary, Dugald, Henry H., Jr. and Louis.

The Haights were the last family to use the Stanford Mansion as the Governor's residence.