Furbush, William H.
(born: 1839 - died: September 3, 1902)William Hines Furbush from Carroll County, KY was the first sheriff of Lee County, AR and a member of the Arkansas General Assembly in 1873. He was a photographer in Ohio and fought in the Civil War.
Furbush later moved to Liberia, returning to the U.S. in less than a year. In 1874, he survived an assassination attempt. He may have been the first African American Democrat in the Arkansas General Assembly in 1874. During his first term in the General Assembly, he was a Republican.
Furbush began practicing law in Arkansas in 1886. He left Arkansas and mined in Colorado, then returned to Arkansas, where he was editor of the National Democrat. He left Arkansas again in 1891 and lived in South Carolina and Georgia before settling in Indiana, where he died in 1902.
William Hines Furbush was the son of Robert and Mary Furbush and the husband of Emma S. Owens (his 2nd wife).
For more see B. Wintory, "William Hines Furbush: African-American carpetbagger, Republican, fusionist, and Democrat," The Arkansas Historical Quarterly, vol. 63 (Summer 2004), pp. 107-165; William Hines Furbush at the Arkansas Black Lawyer website; and see Sgt William Hines "Willis" Furbush at Find a Grave.