Edward Franklin Hansen was born October 7, 1860, in Beloit where he lived his entire life. He was one of eleven children born to Cornelius and Guri J. Hansen, both natives of Norway. Edward married Carrie Ross in 1895. Mr. Hansen’s father, a blacksmith by trade, started a small factory to manufacture walking plows and for years supplied the local and general trade. Edward helped in his father’s factory while attending school. Later he served an apprenticeship and worked as a machinist at the O.E. Merrill Company.

As a young man Mr. Hansen was a member of the famous Ever Ready Fire Company Number 1, which was a band of young men who were volunteer firemen prior to the days of the paid fire fighters. He joined the group in 1879 and served until the unit was disbanded in 1886. Mr. Hansen was City Treasurer of Beloit from 1885 to 1887, City Clerk from 1888 to 1896 and treasurer of the Beloit School District for ten years. From 1895 through 1896 he was a state legislator from the First Assembly District of Rock County. He was a member of the Board of Public Works in 1896 and the next two years a City Alderman from the Second Ward. Beginning in 1901 he served for twelve years as a member of the Rock County Board of Jury Commissioners. He was also on the Board of Governors of the Beloit Welfare Association, an active member of the Beloit Historical Society and prominent in local county and state political affairs.

For 37 years Mr. Hansen was secretary-treasurer of the Beloit Savings Bank and was resident of the bank at the time of his sudden death on Novem-ber 19, 1929. At the time of his death he was “known as a friend and held in esteem by hundreds of Beloit citizens, young and old.”