Born in Benjamin, Utah, James and Mary (Sorensen) Hansen, his parents were natives of Denmark who had settled in Utah, where his father became a farmer and cattle rancher, and an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[1] Hansen, one of eight children born to the couple, attended the schools of Benjamin, Lake Shore, and Spanish Fork.
[1] His family being unable to support his ambitions, he worked as a sheep shearer and as a miner in order to attend the University of Utah.
[2][1] He spent two years in the University of Chicago studying law to gain admission to the bar in 1908.
[2][4] Hansen married Elizabeth Moore of Salt Lake City on April 2, 1903; they had one daughter, Ella, born around 1906.