Minnie Hanson was born in Lost Nation, Iowa. She was very much interested in music and gave piano lessons. She was also quite literary and if she were living today would probably be a writer. She attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa for two years.

In 1904 she married Frank Hanson, a graduate of the University of Iowa in Iowa city. For their honeymoon they attended the first world fair in St. Louis Mo. They had three children, one who died in infancy.