Freelan O. Stanley
| Freelan Oscar Stanley | |
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| Born |
Freelan Oscar Stanley June 1, 1849 Kingfield, Maine |
| Died | October 2, 1940 (aged 91) Newton, Massachusetts |
| Resting place | Riverside Cemetery, Kingfield, Maine |
| Education | |
| Known for | Stanley Steamer, The Stanley Hotel, Rocky Mountain National Park |
| Board member of |
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| Spouse(s) | Flora Jane Record Tileston |
| Children | none |
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Freelan Oscar Stanley (June 1, 1849 – October 2, 1940) was an American inventor, hotelier and businessman. He was the co-founder, along with his twin brother Francis Edgar Stanley, of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company which built the Stanley Steamer.
Freelan Oscar Stanley and his identical twin brother Francis Edgar (1849-1918) were born on June 1, 1849, in Kingfield, Maine. They were the third and second, respectively, of the six children of Solomon P. Stanley II (1813–89) and Apphia Kezar Stanley (nee, French. 1819-74). Although their family was not wealthy, education was highly valued and knowledge of science, poetry and music were encouraged from a young age. Their elder brother Isaac Newton Stanley was named for the eminent English scientist while their youngest brother received the name of Bayard Taylor, the renowned American literary figure. Their younger sister Chansonetta Stanley Emmons achieved significant recognition as a photographer.
In 1859, At the age of ten, Freelan and Francis started their first business together refining and selling maple sugar. The object of their hard-earned money was wool for new school suits and a copy of Benjamin Greenleaf's National Arithmetic in which book they worked every equation from cover to cover. At eleven, their great-uncle, Liberty Stanley, who had raised their father as his own son, taught them the art of violin-making. By the following year, Freelan had completed three instruments. He would continue to make them throughout his life creating many concert-quality pieces still prized today by collectors and musicians.
In 1860, at the age of twenty the brothers began their collegiate education at Western State Normal School (now University of Maine, Farmington) with the intention of becoming educators. Francis Edgar soon found that formal education was not to his liking and left to pursue a career as a portrait artist. Freelan continued his education at Hebron Academy from 1871 to 1873 and finally Bowdoin College in Brunswick from 1873 to 1874 where he was in the same class as Arctic explorer Admiral Robert Peary. He never completed his degree, however, due to his participation in the so-called Drill Rebellion. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (1828-1914), Bowdoin alumnus (class of 1852), former professor, and hero of Gettysburg, had become president of the college in 1871 and instituted mandatory military drills for all students. Although Stanley was exempt from the drill as a member of the college band, he was nonetheless strongly opposed to it and acted in solidarity with his peers. In November 1873, the students petitioned the Board of Governors to abolish it. In May 1874, having been unsuccessful in their petition, three-quarters of the student body refused to participate. The protesters were sent home for one week and given the ultimatum of compliance or expulsion. Stanley was one of three students who refused to comply. Despite his expulsion, Freelan Oscar Stanley was granted an honorary degree from Bowdoin in 1919 at the age of 70. The drills were repealed after Chamberlain's resignation in 1883.
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