George A. Hannaford (1844-1929) was born in New Hampton, New Hampshire, and died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was a veteran of the American Civil War and served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 124th United States Colored Infantry. He married Catherine R. Davlin in the 1860s. Hannaford was one of the founders of the Milwaukee Soldiers' Home, also known as the National Home for Disabled Soldiers, which was built in 1867 for the rehabilitation of Civil War soldiers. In 1873, he became a Wisconsin department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization composed of Civil War veterans, and in 1880 was appointed adjutant general. Hannaford wrote to Mary Baker Eddy in 1886, inquiring whether or not A. J. Swarts was a student of hers. Although Eddy offered to take Hannaford as a student, there is no record of him studying with Eddy or joining The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts.

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