a bit of hayward history, as provided by john verner hayward:

phinneus t. hayward brought his family from western new york to the iowa territory in a covered wagon in the mid-eighteen hundreds, settling in what is now north central iowa, near forest city. it is especially notable that william c. hayward, who was about ten years of age at the time, first saw his future wife, della, on that trip. it seems that as the wagon was crossing northeastern iowa they passed near a cabin where a young girl was sitting on the porch. william waved to her, not realizing at the time, of course, that she would later become his wife. i only wish i knew the whole story.

after william and della were married, william ran the newspaper in garner for a time. verner eugene hayward and two brothers were born there. the family then moved to davenport, where william became involved in the ladder business and founded or purchased the davenport ladder company.

while in davenport, william became active in politics and for a time was secretary of the state of iowa, with an office in the state capitol in des moines. della was quite active in church and social affairs - the st. john's methodist church in davenport later sponsored a ladies aid society called the della hayward society. the family's home, on mississippi avenue, was later taken over by verner and his family.

verner's two brothers moved west when they reached their majority, one settling in los angeles and the other, bert, in bremerton, washington. the los angeles hayward had a son, fred, while bert had two sons and a daughter.

verner followed in his father's footsteps and became active in political and social affairs in the davenport area, in addition to taking over the operations of the davenport ladder co. he served as president of the school board, became a 33rd degree mason, was chairman of the committee that built the masonic temple auditorium. later he became secretary of the bridge commission that built the bettendorf - moline suspension bridge across the mississippi river and served as manager of the bridge.

in the meantime verner had married kate mary ford, whom he had met at cornell college in mt. vernon, iowa. verner was a football hero (he was a running back and for a time held a collegiate record for the longest field goal - 53 yards!) and kate was a bright young lady from the manchester area.

verner and kate had two sons, william ford (bill) and john verner, and one daughter, katherine (kay). bill was something of a problem child and eventually was rewarded with a one-way ticket to miami. there he entered the merchant marine and traveled much of the world during a colorful and varied career.

kay married vern furrow and they lived in webster city until moving to arizona in the late 1940's. they had two daughters, betty and anne, and one son, bill. later kay and vern were divorced and kay eventually married charlie wells and lived in dallas. they occasionally visited at clear lake.

john attended grinnell college, almost everyone's alma mater, where he was an accomplished athlete, earning varsity letters in almost everything imaginable and was an honorable mention on collier's all-american team. while there he met the charming adelia woodward and they became an item. they were married following graduation and moved to davenport to set up housekeeping.

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