{{Short description|American politician (1873–1943)}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Joseph Rush Wimberly, I | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|12|30}} | birth_place = Arcadia, Bienville Parish<br />Louisiana, USA | death_date = {{death date and age|1943|3|11|1873|12|30}} | death_place =Arcadia, Louisiana | resting_place=Arcadia Cemetery | office=Louisiana State Representative for Bienville Parish | term_start=1900 | term_end=1908 | preceded=William U. Richardson | succeeded=William U. Richardson | office2=Louisiana State Senator for Bienville and Claiborne parishes | term_start2=1908 | term_end2=1912 | preceded2=J. C. Madden | succeeded2=John Paul Jones | alma_mater=Arcadia High School | party=Democratic | spouse=Annie May Poland (married 1897-1943, his death) | children=Lorris M. Wimberly<br /> Edrie Wimberly Albrecht<br /> J. Rush Wimberly, II | parents=John L. and Francis Nix Wimberly | occupation =Attorney | footnotes = }}
'''Joseph Rush Wimberly, I''' (December 30, 1873 – March 11, 1943), was at the turn of the 20th century successively a member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature from Arcadia, the seat of Bienville Parish in North Louisiana. He served two terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1900 to 1908.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://house.louisiana.gov/H_PDFdocs/HouseMembership_History_CURRENT.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana House of Representatives|publisher=house.louisiana.gov|accessdate=June 22, 2013}}</ref> and a single term in the Louisiana State Senate from 1908 to 1912, representing Bienville and neighboring Claiborne parishes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://senate.la.gov/Documents/Membership/Documents/SenateMembership1880ForwardRevisedMar2011.pdf|title=Membership of the Louisiana Senate|publisher=senate.la.gov|accessdate=June 21, 2013}}</ref> Wimberly served on the Education committees of both houses during his 12-year tenure.<ref name=wimb/> Wimberly was the youngest of eleven children of the former Francis Nix and John L. Wimberly, a planter and a native of Georgia who migrated westward to Louisiana in 1840. Rush Wimberly graduated from Arcadia High School, an entity of the Bienville Parish School Board. Having privately thereafter studied the law, he was admitted to the bar in 1894. After his legislative years, Wimberly moved to Shreveport in Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana, where he formed the law firm, Wimberly, Reeves and Dorman. He returned to Arcadia and for ten years was the parish attorney for Bienville Parish and for a number of years the parish public school superintendent.<ref name=wimb>{{cite web|url=http://files.usgwarchives.net/la/caddo/bios/wimberly.txt|title=Joseph Rush Wimberly, I|publisher=usgwarchives.net|accessdate=June 22, 2013}}</ref>
Wimberly was an alternate delegate to the 1936 Democratic National Convention, which met in Philadelphia to renominate the Roosevelt-Garner ticket.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/wilsons-winford.html|title=Index to Politicians: Wilson-allen to Winfrey|publisher=politicalgraveyard.com|accessdate=June 22, 2013}}</ref>
In 1897, Wimberly married the former Annie May Poland (1877–1960), and the couple had three children. The oldest, Lorris M. Wimberly, served in the state House, including several stints as Speaker. Lorris Wimberly was a political ally of his fellow Democrat, Governor Earl Kemp Long. The other Wimberly children were J. Rush Wimberly Jr. (1906–1982), an attorney, and Edrie W. Albrecht (1902–1983), the wife of Henry Gustave Albrecht (1899–1945) of Arcadia.<ref name=wimb/>
Wimberly and most of his family are interred at the Arcadia Cemetery.<ref name=wimb/>
{{Portal bar|Biography|United States|Law|Politics|Education}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{S-start}} {{s-par|us-la-hs}} {{succession box | before=William U. Richardson | title=Louisiana State Representative for Bienville Parish <br/>Joseph Rush Wimberly, I | years=1900–1908 | after=William U. Richardson}} {{succession box | before=J. C. Madden | title=Louisiana State Senator for Bienville and Claiborne parishes <br/>Joseph Rush Wimberly, I | years=1908–1912 | after=John Paul Jones (Louisiana politician)}}| {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wimberly, Rush}} Category:1873 births Category:1943 deaths Category:Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives Category:Democratic Party Louisiana state senators Category:Louisiana lawyers Category:People from Arcadia, Louisiana Category:Politicians from Shreveport, Louisiana Category:Louisiana state court judges Category:Methodists from Louisiana Category:20th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature