Herbert Clark Hoover, The Life and Death of the 31st President of the United States

Herbert Clark Hoover was born on August 10, 1874. For the first nine years of his life, he lived in the small town of West Branch, Iowa, the place of his birth. His Quaker father, Jessie Clark Hoover, a blacksmith and farm equipment salesman, suffered a heart attack and died in 1880 when Herbert was six years old.
Three years later, the boy's mother, Huldah Minthorn Hoover, developed pneumonia and also passed away, orphaning Herbert, his older brother Theodore, and little sister Mary. Passed around among relatives for a few years, Hoover ended up with his uncle, Dr. John Minthorn, who lived in Oregon.
Around age two "Bertie", as he was called, contracted a serious bout of croup, and was momentarily thought to have died until resuscitated by his uncle, John Minthorn.
As a young child he was often referred to by his father as "my little stick in the mud" when he repeatedly got trapped in the mud crossing the unpaved street.
Herbert's family figured prominently in the town's public prayer life, due almost entirely to mother Hulda's role in the church.
The young Hoover was shy, sensitive, introverted, and somewhat suspicious, characteristics that developed, at least in part, in reaction to the loss of his parents at such a young age.
He attended Friends Pacific Academy in Newberg, Oregon, earning average to failing grades in all subjects except math.