Royal Erastus Gould was born in Biddeford on February 8, 1852 to Olive (Berry) and Charles F. Gould, at their family home on Alfred Street. He graduated from Biddeford High School in 1869, and entered Bowdoin College, from which he graduated in 1873 with a degree of A.M. He read law at Wedgewood + Stone in Biddeford, and was admitted to the bar in 1877.

Gould was soon elected to the city school board, and in 1878 began work as the principal of the Spruce Street grammar school, which he ran for seven years. In 1885, Gould was elected superintendent of schools in Biddeford, a post he would hold until his death in 1915 at the age of 63.