FRANK H. MONTHAVEN, a well-known citizen of Deshler, Ohio, was born at what was then called North Ridge, four miles south of Deshler, in Putnam county, Ohio, on October 8, 1859, and is the son of Frank and Bridget (Maloy) Monthaven, the father a Frenchman, though born in Switzerland, and the mother born in Ireland. The father came to America at twenty years of age and the mother at ten, and they were married at Lima, Ohio. A few months later they removed to Putnam county, where the father was employed in railroad construction work. He was a shoemaker by trade and later established himself in that line at Belmore, Putnam county, where he remained until his death in 1883, aged fifty years. His widow survived until 1896, dying at the age of fifty-seven years. They had ten children, Frank N., John, Mary, Margaret, Josephine, Ellen, Sadie, Grace, Edward H., and Joseph William. The parents were members of the Catholic church.
When the subject of this sketch was eleven years of age his father bound him out to Joseph Fish, of Bartlow township, Henry county, with whom he remained until he was fifteen years old. He then returned to Belmore and lived with his parents until 1890. The year previous he had bought the Phoenix Hotel property at Deshler and in 1890 he took charge of it, having successfully conducted the hotel since that time. In 1900 he improved the property with an addition, the building now being of frame, two stories high, with sixteen sleeping rooms, with a good dining room and bar in connection, and is one of the most popular caravansaries in this portion of the county. In the spring of 1898 Mr. Monthaven erected one of the prettiest arid most comfortable residences in this town. In 1901 he bought the Pioneer drug building and remodeled it into one of the best business blocks in the city. In 1903 he built the adjoining fine brick block, in which the post office is located. In 1902 he purchased two farms, of forty acres each, in this township, being adjoining tracts, which he has developed into one of the model farms of the township. Mr. Monthaven married Miss Augusta Mull, who was born in Hancock county, Ohio, on January 29, 1865, the daughter of Jacob Mull, and to them have been born six children, Kittie May, the wife of Jacob Metz, of Bowling Green, Ohio, and Nellie B., Mabel, Allan G., LeRoy M. and Lucile. A man of marked business ability and of genial disposition, Mr. Monthaven stands high in the estimation of his fellow citizens.