 Born on September 14, 1828 in Culpeper County, Virginia to Alexander Hamilton Hansbrough (1801-1846) and his new wife Elizabeth Clayton Strother (1810-1871), Hansbrough lost his father when he was 18.His brother John Strother Hansbrough (1831-1921) became the longest serving rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Orange, Virginia.He also had four younger sisters, of whom Roberta Banks Hansbrough survived until 1906.