When Horace Earle Townsend was born on 26 April 1864, in Pavilion, Pavilion, Genesee, New York, United States, his father, Elbert Townsend, was 22 and his mother, Emily Olmsted, was 26. He married Grace L Hendee on 10 September 1884, in Pavilion Center, Pavilion, Genesee, New York, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. He died on 11 December 1947, in Le Roy, LeRoy, Genesee, New York, United States, at the age of 83, and was buried in Pavilion, Genesee, New York, United States.