 His mother was Matilda Williamson Benson, and his older brother Henry Landin Benson was speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives and served on the Oregon Supreme Court.Young Frank enrolled in the Portland Academy, and completed his education at the California Wesleyan College (now University of the Pacific in Stockton, California), where he earned an A.B.in 1877, and an A.M. degree in 1882.