Mollie Brown Carran

Mollie Brown Carran, circa 1885, when she was teaching a young Bert Hoover.

Herbert Hoover National Historic Site

Quick Facts

Significance:

Teacher and childhood mentor of President Herbert Hoover

Place of Birth:

Butler County, Pennsylvania

Date of Birth:

December 1, 1853

Date of Death:

May 16, 1934

Herbert Hoover first singled out Mollie Brown Carran for special attention as his teacher when, as Secretary of Commerce, he made a speech to the students of the West Branch High School in 1923. 

Hoover’s beloved grade-school teacher, Mary McNeil “Mollie” Brown, was born on December 1, 1853 in Butler County, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of William and Harriett Brown. The Brown family moved to West Branch, Iowa when their daughter was a child, and William Brown became president of the local bank. As an adult, Mollie Brown served as intermediate teacher in the West Branch schools, during which she taught Hoover in the fourth grade. Brown was an empathetic teacher, but also had a reputation for being tough— and able to control unruly students with a birch rod. She left teaching, in 1885, after marriage to John Carran in 1885. 

During Hoover’s 1928 presidential campaign, he made a point of celebrating his former teacher’s influence on his life. During his campaign visit to West Branch, Carran rode with the Hoovers in the parade, ate breakfast with the family inside the Hoover birthplace cottage, and had pride of place during the candidate’s speech. The candidate made sure to keep his former teacher by his side during the entire day of festivities. Later, Carran also sat on the Inaugural platform in Washington as Hoover was sworn in. 

While not his first teacher, as was often erroneously reported in the 1920s, Carran was certainly Hoover’s most beloved teacher, in no small part due to the fact that she taught him during the difficult period after his mother died and he became an orphan. 

Miss Brown was so attached to Bert that she even asked his relatives if she might adopt the orphan. In his memoirs, Hoover recalled that, “Mollie Brown – later Mrs. Carran… strove to secure me for adoption. But Mollie was then unmarried, and the others insisted that family experience was a first necessity for my control.” Hoover’s statement has been interpreted as indicating that he was disappointed that his teacher was not chosen. Hoover stayed in contact with Carran when he went to live with relatives in Oregon. 

Carran became a modest celebrity during the Hoover administration. During the 1929 Iowa State Fair, she served as the hostess at the replica Hoover birthplace erected on the fair grounds. Later in life, Hoover remembered Carran with gifts, and the Hoovers provided financial support to members of her family. 

Mollie Brown Carran died on May 16, 1934.