Hayward E. Webster

Hayward was born on November 6th, 1874 in Highland County, Ohio. Hayward's father was Elijah Franklin Webster and his mother was Mary Elizabeth Ridings. His paternal grandparents were Thomas Fendel Webster and Elizabeth Pulse; his maternal grandparents were Samuel Mathias Ridings and Catherine Ambrose. He had four brothers and three sisters, named Roswell, Leroy, <Unknown>, Lewis, Lena, Janie and Lizzie. He was the fourth oldest of the eight children. He died due to Drowned at the age of 21 in 1895 near Lamont, Oklahoma.

General Notes
- The E. F. Webster family and the W. H. Ridings family of Caldwell (W. H. Ridings was a brother of Mary Elizabeth Webster, were having a Family Picnic on Pond Creek about one mile West of Lamont, the Creek was high as a result of an overnight rain. Hayward decided to go in for a swim. He got into trouble in the flooded stream and dissappeared from sight. It was said that his brother Leroy tried to go in to try to rescue him but was unsuccessful. The Picnic came to a sad ending. This was only two years after the opening of the Cherokee Strip in September 1893. Hayward's body was not recovered until the next day.
  
  Hayward's funeral was held in the W. H. Ridings home in Caldwell and he was buried in the Caldwell Cemetery. To my (L. Shire) knowledge My Grandfather Leroy Webster would never go in the water to swim the rest of his life. The site of the drowning was 4 miles South of Leroy's homestead and 5 miles south of Elijah and Mary E. Webster's homestead. Travel was by Carriage, Buggy, Wagon or horseback. It would have been nearly a 15 mile trip for the Ridings back to Caldwell. They may have stayed overnight at the E. F. Webster Hometead. The Picnic may have started in the morning and the drowning may have occurred early in the day, There is no written account of the incident except the obituary which appeared in the Caldwell newspaper and it gave none of these details. We can only speculate as all those involved are long since deceased.