Hannah was born in a dugout, in the area that became Colonia Diaz, in Chihuahua, Mexico. It was said that she was the first baby born to the LDS Saints in Mexico. Her father, Joseph Henry James, was a Mormon polygamist. He had three wives, Hannah's mother, Elizabeth Salome Bloomfield, was his first wife. Joseph and his families were living in Arizona and when it became evident that the government was going make them separate, they moved the Mexico where polygamy wasn't against the law.

Hannah is the fifth child of her mother's fourteen children. There are also 21 half-siblings. Hannah's father built three homes about a block apart. Each mother presided over her home and the children mingled freely in all the homes. As children they all had plenty to do. They had all the farm animals to care for besides all their household duties. There was plenty of game to hunt for food. There was fun too. Joseph made a dam in one of the ditches to create a swimming pool for his family. A cave nearby served as a dressing room.

The family prospered and some of the older children became marriage age and started their own families. Hannah became acquainted with Joseph Henry Porter and they made plans to work and save the money ($300) to go to Salt Lake City, Utah to be married in the temple there. When they finally made it to Utah they found that the temple was closed until October that year, so they were married by an LDS Bishop on July 19, 1906. They went to Wyoming to work for the rest of the summer where Joe worked on a sheep ranch and Hannah helped cook for their board and room. They returned to Salt Lake and were sealed in the temple on October 4, 1906. They then went to San Francisco for their honeymoon arriving there shortly after the big earthquake.

The couple settled in Oakland, California and Joe got a job. After seven months they decided to go home to Old Mexico. They had been away for eleven months. Hannah's father died in a sawmill accident on April 25, 1908. It was a hard time for her mother as there were still young children living at home. They all helped out and continued living in Mexico until the rebels of the Mexican Revolution forced them to leave at the end of August 1912. It was a miserable time for everyone riding on a train in the summer heat to El Paso. They had only one day notice to pack and get out and they could take very little.

The people in El Paso were kind to the refugee Mormons and gave them a large lumber shed to camp out in and gave them food and clothing. The LDS Church paid for transportation for the refugees to go wherever they wanted. Hannah and Joe and their little children went first to Nephi, then moved to Blanding, and finally moved to Provo. Hannah's mother died in Provo in 1923. By 1929 the depression got bad and there was no work. Their oldest son, Joseph, had gone to California and convinced his parents to come too. Joe found work in the Sugar Mill.

Joe and Hannah had become parents to eight children. The first three were born in Mexico: Joseph, Nina, and Darold. Darold lived only a few days. Irvian and Rees were born in Nephi, Utah. Garth and Rachel were born in Blanding. Saloma was born in Provo. She only lived two years.

A few years after the move to California, Hannah suffered a mental breakdown. She wouldn't eat and sometimes would wander off and the family would have to hunt for her. Finally they put Hannah in a mental hospital. After a while they tried to bring her home but it didn't work and Hannah lived at the hospital the rest of her life except for short visits with her daughter, Rachel. Joe and Hannah separated. Joe went back to Utah with some of the family. Rachel married and stayed in California.

Both Joe and Hannah lived to ninety-five years of age. Joe died first in September 1980. When Hannah learned of his death it didn't take long for her to follow him. She died in November. They took her to Utah and buried her next to Joe.