He married a daughter of James Cook, a Federalist once described as "a tall, dignified gentleman ... a man of large means.

A history of the Spring Mills Sunday School noted about him, "His words were few and always spoken with gentleness, but his life had a power whose influence was deep and abiding.

"[1] His mother, Susanna Miles, was descended from a Baptist family who came from Radnor, Wales, with William Penn in "Ye Good Shippe Welcome" to become among the earliest settlers of Philadelphia and was related to Samuel Miles, a militia general in the Revolutionary War, one of Philadelphia's early mayors and a judge of the High Court of Errors and Appeals.

Later, he moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where on September 21, 1869, he married Camilla Turley, a daughter of a prominent citizen there.

He began his law practice in Council Bluffs as part of the firm Sapp, Lyman, and Hanna.

[1] In 1872, the offer of a partnership brought Hanna to Chicago, where he practiced law until late 1879, when failing health caused him to move to Colorado.

A woman living in New Hampshire helped him in Christian Science and he recovered, becoming so impressed with the experience, that he began a "systematic study" of the religion's textbook.

[11][n 3] In 1894, the Bible and the Christian Science textbook were ordained as the "impersonal pastor"; with changes in the church service, Hanna became First Reader.

[13] In 1895, around the time the Manual of The Mother Church was published, Eddy wrote a letter to Hanna describing the work of establishing the by-laws that would govern the church, a portion of which was later published in her book Miscellaneous Writings[14] and in the front of the Manual, before the table of contents.

In a letter to her just over two months later in April 1896, he questioned a proposed raise in his salary, fearing the increase could be a corrupting influence on his character.

Also, in 1898, Hanna was made vice-president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, when Eddy established a Board of Education to continue the work of the closed institution.

His assigned region being in the western United States and a new church by-law setting a three-year term to the First Reader, Hanna resigned his other positions in June.

[3] In autumn 1911, they moved to Pasadena, California and built a house on the corner of Oakland Avenue and Fillmore Street.

In 1914, Hanna resigned from the Board of Lectureship; he continued to conduct his annual primary class instruction and association meeting until his death in 1921.