Francis E. Stanley and his twin Freelan O. Stanley were born on 1 June 1849 in Kingsfield, Maine. Their parents were Solomon and Apphia (French) Stanley. Solomon Stanley was both a farmer and a teacher. He and his brother graduated from Farmington State Normal School in Farmington, Maine. The school is now the University of Maine at Farmington. Francis became a teacher, and taught at New Portland, Cape Elizabeth and Strong, Maine. In 1870 he met and married Augusta May Walker, another teacher. Together they had three children. In 1875 he left teaching and moved to Auburn, Maine. He became an artist and photographer opening a studio there. He began to do more portrait photography and opened two more studios in Lewiston and Bridgton, Maine. In the early 1880s he started experimenting with the new dry plate way of taking pictures.