Frederick Townsend (July 1, 1862 – November 21, 1918) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player, lawyer and politician. Townsend was born in 1862 at

Albia, Iowa Albia is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County, in southern Iowa, United States. The population was 3,721 at the 2020 census. The city of Albia is known for its historic square and city-wide Victorian Architecture. Albia is also known ...

. He was the son of

John Selby Townsend John Selby Townsend (August 24, 1824 – April 23, 1892) was an American judge and politician. He was a member of the Democratic Party. Townsend was born on August 24, 1824, in Morganfield, Kentucky to James Townsend a planter and large slaveo ...

, a district judge and legislator in Iowa. Townsend received his early education in the public school of Albia, Iowa. In 1879, he enrolled at

Ann Arbor High School Pioneer High School is a public school in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1856, the school was previously called the Union School and Ann Arbor High School. In 2010, Pioneer was listed as a "Silver Medal School" by the '' U.S. News & World R ...

, but he was forced to quit his studies in the spring of 1881 due to failing eyesight. In the fall of 1881, Townsend entered the law department at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He played forward for the Michigan football team and wrote an account of the team's trip to the east coast to play Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. He entered the freshman class of the literary department in the spring of 1882. He was again unable to complete his studies due to failing eyesight. He moved to

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

, where he worked in the mercantile business and also part-time in the law office of his brother, Judge J. E. Townsend. He returned to Iowa in 1887 and was admitted to the Iowa bar in May 1887. In the fall of 1887, he resumed his studies at the law department of the

. He played as a starting left tackle for the

1887 Michigan Wolverines football team The 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1887 college football season. The team compiled a 5–0 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 102 to 10. The 1887 season capped three con ...

while completing his legal studies. He graduated from Michigan in 1888 and returned to El Paso where he formed a law partnership with his brother under the name Townsend & Townsend. In August 1889, he married Helen Dawson, a classmate of Townsend at the University of Michigan, in a ceremony held at

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. They had five children. He returned to Albia, Iowa, in 1890 and began a law practice there. In 1890, he was nominated as the Democratic Party's candidate for County Attorney of

Monroe County, Iowa Monroe County is a county located in the south central part of the U.S. state of Iowa. In the early 20th century, it was a center of bituminous coal mining and in 1910 had a population of more than 25,000. As mining declined, people moved elsew ...

. He was elected and served in that capacity from 1891 to 1893. He next served as chairman of the Monroe County Democratic Party for three years. In 1896, he was elected to the state central committee of the

Iowa Democratic Party The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Iowa. While existing when Iowa was granted statehood in 1846, it did not gain broad electoral success until the mid-1950s, when demographic changes ...

, and in 1898, he was chosen as the chairman of the state central committee. He next served two terms in the

Iowa State Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . ...

from 1900 to 1904. He also served on the local school and library boards and on the Board of Equalization and Fuel Commission for Monroe County. Townsend was a member of the Masons, the Knights of Pythias, and the Elks. He died in November 1918 from the Spanish influenza during the

1918 flu pandemic The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Fred 1862 births 1918 deaths 19th-century players of American football Michigan Wolverines football players Players of American football from Iowa People from El Paso, Texas People from Albia, Iowa Iowa lawyers Texas lawyers Democratic Party Iowa state senators University of Michigan Law School alumni 19th-century American politicians American football tackles 19th-century American lawyers Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in Iowa