When Herman William Hopen was born on 4 August 1856, in Jefferson City, Cole, Missouri, United States, his father, Heinrich Wilhem Theodore Hopen, was 38 and his mother, Anna Sara Lammey, was 30. He married Emma Louisa Young on 14 April 1888, in Willcox, Cochise, Arizona, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 daughters. He lived in Snowflake, Navajo, Arizona Territory, United States in 1900 and Pinedale, Navajo, Arizona, United States in 1910. He died on 4 February 1912, in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, United States, at the age of 55, and was buried in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona, United States.