William Van Fleet Hoagland was born on July 24, 1817, in Somerville, New Jersey. He married Sarah Beekman on October 31, 1841, and they had at least nine children: Henry, born on November 2, 1842; Sarah, born around 1849; Catherine, born around 1851; Richard, born around 1854; Jennett, born around 1857; Susan, born around 1860; William, born around 1862; Elizabeth, born around 1864; and James, born around 1868. They lived in New Jersey until around 1856, when they moved to Macoupin County, Illinois.
Hoagland worked as a farmer and a carpenter, and by 1860, he owned $1,200 of real estate and $300 of personal property. A decade later, he owned $3,000 of personal property. The family moved to Pitman, Illinois, in the 1870s and then to Lincoln, Nebraska in the 1880s. He died in Lincoln on January 27, 1904.