Truman Alvah Hardy was born in October 1839 in Salisbury, New Hampshire, to Truman and Ellen Hardy. His father was a grocer who owned $700 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property by 1860. The family lived in Manchester, Massachusetts, and by 1860, he was working as a clerk. He married Louisa R. Wheeler on November 26, 1863, and they had at least three children: Elizabeth, born around 1867; Arthur, born around 1873; and Henry, born around 1876. They lived in Salem, Massachusetts, and he earned a living as a dry goods dealer. He died of heart disease in Salem on March 31, 1882.