Good info here from Raghavendra Shanbhag:
http://www.sharepointcolumn.com/sp2013-setting-people-picker-value-in-newform-aspx/
Comments: Hi Marc , I was trying to use the code which was posted by Raghavendra, but unfortunately it was not working.Primarily because $("[id$='ClientPeoplePicker'][title='" + controlName + "']"); could not be found After some frustrating hours,i went back to my secret weapon , Hardcode the control id. and populate the div just before the text area, and 'click' the anchor. This did the trick for me , but somehow i am unable to pinpoint the div of a particular People picker The structure looked like this <div tabindex="0" title="People Picker" class="ms-inputuserfield ms-inputBox" id="ctl00_ctl39_g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d_ff151_ctl00_ctl00_UserField_upLevelDiv" role="textbox" aria-haspopup="true" sty......... <textarea name="ctl00$ctl39$g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d$ff151$ctl00$ctl00$UserField$downlevelTextBox" title="People Picker"........ <a title="Check Names" id="ctl00_ctl39_g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d_ff151_ctl00_ctl00_UserField_checkNames" onclick=" if(!ValidatePickerControl('ctl00_ctl39_g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d_ff151_ctl00_ctl00_UserField')){ ShowValidatio>
http://www.sharepointcolumn.com/sp2013-setting-people-picker-value-in-newform-aspx/
Comments: Hi Marc , I was trying to use the code which was posted by Raghavendra, but unfortunately it was not working.Primarily because $("[id$='ClientPeoplePicker'][title='" + controlName + "']"); could not be found After some frustrating hours,i went back to my secret weapon , Hardcode the control id. and populate the div just before the text area, and 'click' the anchor. This did the trick for me , but somehow i am unable to pinpoint the div of a particular People picker The structure looked like this <div tabindex="0" title="People Picker" class="ms-inputuserfield ms-inputBox" id="ctl00_ctl39_g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d_ff151_ctl00_ctl00_UserField_upLevelDiv" role="textbox" aria-haspopup="true" sty......... <textarea name="ctl00$ctl39$g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d$ff151$ctl00$ctl00$UserField$downlevelTextBox" title="People Picker"........ <a title="Check Names" id="ctl00_ctl39_g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d_ff151_ctl00_ctl00_UserField_checkNames" onclick=" if(!ValidatePickerControl('ctl00_ctl39_g_8cd4677a_fa0c_4063_8b43_fc5aa1f7962d_ff151_ctl00_ctl00_UserField')){ ShowValidatio>