When Hendrik Alles van Bruggen was born on 15 August 1882, in Drachten, Friesland, Netherlands, his father, Alle Haayes van Bruggen, was 45 and his mother, Grietje Sierds Mulder, was 40. He married Grietje Jacobs Tasma on 8 May 1915, in Smallingerland, Friesland, Netherlands. He died on 16 September 1971, in Garijp, Friesland, Netherlands, at the age of 89, and was buried in Opeinde, Friesland, Netherlands.