Hannah A. Balkam (1856-1906) was born and died in Robbinston, Maine. Her father, Gilbert Balkam, served in the Maine House of Representatives in the late 1860s. Balkam attended high school in Calais, Maine, and by 1880 had moved to Hyde Park, Massachusetts, where she worked as a saleswoman. In September 1886 she studied Christian Science with Julia S. Bartlett, one of Mary Baker Eddy's students. Balkam subsequently moved to St. John, New Brunswick, Canada, and began working as a Christian Science practitioner. She took the Primary class from Eddy in February 1889 and then joined the Christian Scientist Association and the National Christian Scientist Association. She joined The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1893.

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