Septimus James Hanna (July 29, 1845 – July 23, 1921), an American Civil War veteran and a judge in the Old West. He was a student of Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Christian Science church. Giving up his legal career, he became a Christian Science practitioner, lecturer and teacher. Hanna occupied more leading positions within the church organization than any individual, serving as pastor, then First Reader of The Mother Church, as editor and associate editor of the periodicals, member of the Bible Lesson Committee, he served two terms as president of The Mother Church, he was teacher of the Normal (teachers) Class of 1907, later vice president and then president of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. Family background Hanna's grandfather, Andrew Hanna, a Presbyterian from Scotland emigrated to the United States after the American Revolutionary War and bought land in Penns Valley in Pennsylvania. He served in the War of 1812 and was in a battle that was part of the Battle of Lake Erie. He married a daughter of James Cook, a Federalist once described as "a tall, dignified gentleman ... a man of large means." Hanna's father, Samuel Cook Hanna, a farmer, was born in 1808 in Centre County, Pennsylvania, and spent his boyhood there. His father was an active member of the Methodist church and served as superintendent of the Sunday school. 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." 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. His brother, Richard, a captain in the Revolutionary War, was Hanna' s grandfather. Early years Septimus J. Hanna was born one of ten children, to Susanna (née Miles) and Samuel Cook Hanna in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania on July 29, 1845. The family moved from Center County to Cochranton in Crawford County in western Pennsylvania. His parents were of different religious backgrounds, Scottish-Presbyterian (his father) and Baptist (his mother). Together, they joined the Methodist Episcopal church, where they were active members. He attended