Introduction
Born: April 25, 1866, Fort Ann, New York.
Died: October 1, 1942, Essex, New York.
Buried: Bolton Landing, New York.
Born: April 25, 1866, Fort Ann, New York.
Died: October 1, 1942, Essex, New York.
Buried: Bolton Landing, New York.
Son of a Baptist minister, Webster spent time as a youth in lumber camps in the Adirondack Mountains. Before leaving the Adirondacks, he was ordained to preach by the North River Baptist Church (now closed).
He then attended the Vermont Academy at Saxton’s River. He first preached at meetings of Academy students in the historic Old Town Rockingham
Church near Bellows Falls, Vermont.
His first student pastorate was at Middletown Springs, Vermont. He was subsequently supply preacher for the Baptist church in South Acworth, New Hampshire. Following a period of evangelistic work, he became acting pastor at the Baptist church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. From there he was called to Montpelier.
Of his over 50 years of service as a minister, he spent more than 30 years in non-denominational settings, often in combined churches with Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist members. While supplying a number of churches in Utica, New York, he was also state news editor for the Utica Morning Herald.
In later years, Webster was pastor of the Federated Church at Essex, New York, where there is a plaque in his memory. He wrote several hundred published hymns and other songs.