The seventh of twelve children born to Abraham & Catherine Braucher Monnett on their Marion County Ohio Farmstead, Mervin Monnett followed in his father’s footsteps of farming, stock raising and banking, rising to the Presidency of the Second National Bank of Bucyrus (Ohio), Monnette lost his fortune by 1900 when he “quietly” left town and his creditors.  Monnette took up mining as an occupation; in 1904, a claim of his at Tonopah, Nevada yielded a significant gold strike – enough to return to Bucyrus and pay his debtors.  The strike also yielded enough money to live in the manner that he was once accustomed to living within.  In 1906/1907, Monnette assumed the lease on a mine in Goldfield Nevada that was considered exhausted by mining experts.  In 1907, Monnette and his partner, a Mr. Hays, struck silver.  The resulting payload of the Hayes Monnette Mine was the largest on record when it was shipped that year.  Monnette did eventually honor his Ohio obligations, however he did not pay any interest on the outstanding amounts due. Joined in California by his son, Orra E. Monnette, Mervin Monnette assumed the Presidency of the American National Bank of Los Angeles.  In 1909, Mervin and his engineered the merger of the American National Bank with the Citizen’s National Bank of Los Angeles Bank.  The duo then arranged the merger of this bank with Broadway  Bank & Trust Company; the newly merged companies then assumed the name of the Citizens Trust and Savings Bank of Los Angeles, which was then folded into the Bank of America San Francisco to become Bank of America, Los Angeles.  At the time of his death, Mervin J. Monnett left an estate valued at $50 million dollars. (bio by: Stu Haley)  Family links:  Parents:  Abraham Monnett (1811 – 1881)  Catherine Braucher Monnett (1815 – 1875)  Spouses:  Elizabeth B. Spencer Cole (1870 – 1926)  Ethel Clark Monnette (1879 – 1927)*  Olive Adelaide Hull Monnette (1849 – 1912)*  Children:  Orra Eugene Monnette (1873 – 1936)*  Clark Fremont Monnette (1887 – 1888)*  Siblings:  Ephraim Braucher Monnett (1837 – 1925)*  Martha Monnett Wright (1838 – 1925)*  Oliver Monnett (1840 – 1906)*  John Thomas Monnett (1842 – 1910)*  Elsie Monnett Malcolm (1844 – 1916)*  Augustus Edward Monnett (1845 – 1917)*  Mervin Jeremiah Monnette (1847 – 1931)  Mary Jane Monnett Hull (1849 – 1906)*  Madison Welsh Monnette (1851 – 1936)*  Melvin H. Monnette (1851 – 1938)*  Amina Josephine Monnett Tobias (1856 – 1934)*  Catherine LaVendee Monnett Ross (1858 – 1941)* *Calculated relationship