When Francis Drayton Thorne was born on 3 April 1904, in Barbados, his father, Abram Francis Thorne, was 46 and his mother, Marion Drayton Mayers, was 45. He married Kathleen Benson Mayers on 20 December 1941, in Washington, District of Columbia, United States. He died on 11 March 1994, in Manatee, Manatee, Florida, United States, at the age of 89, and was buried in Anona, Pinellas, Florida, United States.