Francis Edward Barbour (April 3, 1870 – February 4, 1948) was an American college football player and coach and businessman.

After spending 17 years with the New York Central Railroad, he joined the Beech-Nut Packing Company in 1910 and established its chewing gum business.

His father, William McLeod Barbour (1827–1899), was a minister who emigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1851, and became a professor of theology at Yale University.

At the time of the 1880 Census, Barbour was ten years old and residing in New Haven, Connecticut, with his parents and four older siblings.

[3] Barbour attended the public schools in New Haven, and subsequently enrolled at the Phillips Exeter Academy.

The 1891 Yale team was coached by Walter Camp and included College Football Hall of Fame inductees, Pudge Heffelfinger, Frank Hinkey, Josh Hartwell and Lee McClung.

With Barbour as the starting quarterback, the 1891 team finished with a perfect 13–0 record and a national championship.

[5] In November 1891, The New York Times wrote: "Barbour has made great improvements since last year, and is one of the best men on the Yale team.

The 1892 team also defeated Chicago, 18–10, in a game played at Toledo, Ohio, but suffered two losses to Cornell.

The team closed the season with five consecutive wins over Purdue, DePauw, Northwestern, Kansas and Chicago by a combined score of 202 to 24.

At Yale, Barbour had played for Walter Camp, regarded as the "Father of American Football.

He worked as a traffic clerk for the New York Central Railroad and lived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1892 to 1898.

[27] In addition to his work with Beech-Nut, Barbour also served as a vice president and director of the Utica Mutual Insurance Co.,[25] and as vice president and director of the Montgomery Electric Light & Power Co., which provided electricity to Palatine Bridge, Canajoharie, Sharon Springs, Ames and Cherry Valley, New York.

They lived in a stone home of East Hill in Canajoharie; the house was built in 1888 by Senator and Mrs. James Arkell, the parents of Barbour's wife.