West Branch Times, West Branch, Iowa, June 19, 1930
Transcribed by Sharon Elijah, April 6, 2018

HOOVER FAMILY CRADLE IS FOUND

Hidden away behind the stanchions in the manger of a cow stable, sheltering the nests of fussy setting hens, the quaint old fashioned cradle in which Hulda Minthorn Hoover, who mothered the president of the United States, rocked her babies, has been discovered on the Wilbur Watters farm several miles southwest of West Branch.

An old-time cradle of walnut, built on graceful lines, with beautifully turned rockers and artistic handholes carved in its side, the whole bit of furniture is sturdily built with screws in the painstaking manner of the early day carpenters. The story of the Watters family possession of the historic cradle is simple. After the death of Jesse Hoover, Herbert Hoover’s father, a public auction sale was held, and the elder Mr. Watters bough an Ottawa wagon at this sale. The little cradle was in the wagon, “thrown in” perhaps, as was the occasional custom with auctioneers in disposing of the small articles at such sales.

That generation of Watters children was rocked to sleep in the old walnut crib, and in due time it, with the wagon became the possession of the son, Wilbur Watters. His children, too, went to sleep in this cradle, until the rockers became uneven and the bit of furniture was discarded for more modern baby beds. Rocking babies had gone out of style, anyway. Gradually the little cradle drifted from the house to the barn where it found a use as a nesting place for hens, and was forgotten for a time. The old Ottawa wagon still stands in the barn yard at the Watters farm home. The wee cradle has been resurrected, and both it and the wagon have a mission in preserving the history of the times and environment in which a president was born.