What is Freelan Oscar Stanley?
[[File:Driving to top of Mt Washington 1899.jpg|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|F.O. Stanley and his wife, Flora, drove the first automobile to the top of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.}}]] '''Freelan Oscar Stanley''' (1849 – 1940), was an [[Americans|American]] [[educator]], [[inventor]] and [[manufacturer]]. He left teaching to join his [[twin]] [[brother]] [[Francis Edgar Stanley]] in the [[photographic]] [[dry plate]] business. After selling the business, the two brothers invented and manufactured the [[Stanley Steamer]] [[car]]. They were [[wikt:pioneer|pioneers]] in the use of [[steam engine]]s to power cars. == Early life == Freelan O. Stanley and his twin brother Francis E. Stanley were born on 1 June 1849 in [[Kingsfield, Maine]].<ref name=Hatch213.216>''Maine: A History'', Volume 4, ed. Louis Clinton Hatch (New York: The American historical Society, 1919), pp. 213–216</ref> Their parents were Solomon and Apphia (French) Stanley. Solomon Stanley was both a [[farmer]] and a [[teacher]].<ref name=Hatch213.216/> Freelan and his brother Francis [[graduate]]d from Farmington State Normal School in [[Farmington, Maine]].<ref name=Carey328>Charles W. Carey, ''American Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Business Visionaries'' (New York : Infobase Pub., 2002), p. 328</ref> The school is now the [[University of Maine at Farmington]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umf.maine.edu/about/history-of-umf/ |title=The University of Maine at Farmington |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=n.d. |website= |publisher=University of Maine at Farmington |accessdate=27 August 2014 |archive-date=12 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812071029/http://www.umf.maine.edu/about/history-of-umf/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Freelan became a teacher and taught at [[Andover, Maine|Andover]], [[Lisbon, Maine|Lisbon]] and [[Farmington, Maine]].<ref name=Purington68>George C. Purington, ''History of the State Normal School, Farmington, Maine: With Sketches of the '' (Farmington, ME: Knowlton, McLeary & Co., 1889),