Furnas County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 4,636. Its county seat is Beaver City. The county was named for Robert Wilkinson Furnas, the second governor of the state of Nebraska.

Robert Wilkinson Furnas was the second governor of Nebraska, United States. Born near Troy, Ohio, and orphaned at the age of eight Furnas was a self-made man. He worked as a farmer, printer, tinsmith, insurance salesman, and postmaster all before getting into politics. He married Mary Elizabeth McComas on October 29, 1845, who died in 1897. His second wife was Susannah Emswiler Jameson. He had eight children.