Francis Wayland Palmer (October 11, 1827 – December 3, 1907) was an American politician, publisher, printer, editor and proprietor from New York, Iowa and Illinois.

Palmer became the owner of the newspaper in 1848 and was a member of the New York State Assembly (Chautauqua Co, 2nd D.) in 1854 and 1855.

He was elected a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1868, serving from 1869 to 1873, not being a candidate for renomination in 1872.

He moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1873 and purchased an interest in the Inter-Ocean, becoming its editor-in-chief.

Palmer was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1876, was appointed postmaster of Chicago by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1877, serving until 1885 and served as Public Printer of the United States from 1889 to 1894 and again from 1897 to 1905.