Franklin Townsend (1821–1898) was descended from Henry Townsend, one of the founders of Oyster Bay, New York. He was a 19th-century industrialist, active in his family's iron business which was a branch of the Stirling Iron Works, the maker of the Hudson River Chain that prevented the British Royal Navy from sailing up the Hudson River during the American Revolutionary War. He was active in Albany politics, serving as an alderman and one term as mayor. He also served as Adjutant General of New York from 1869-1873.