The Marlatt-Merlet DNA Project: Summary Report

A. Introduction

The purpose of this report is to summarize the results of DNA testing associated with the Marlatt-Merlet DNA Project. It includes an introduction to the project, a summary of the origins and early migrations of the family, a timeline of events relating to the family’s immigrant ancestor, Gedeon Merlet, an overview of Y-DNA and autosomal DNA testing, and the next steps for the project.

The goals of the project are to (1) identify the common ancestors of all Marlatt family members, and (2) identify the descendants of Gedeon Merlet, born about 1624. Surnames of interest include Marlatt, Marlett, Marlette, Marlot, Marlott, Merlat, Morlatt, Murlatt, Malott, Mollet, Mellott and similar spellings.

The project began in 2011. Greg O. Marlatt (now project co-administrator) and I realized, after running into brick walls on our paternal lines for years, that it was time to add DNA testing to our genealogical toolboxes. It was apparent early on that the real value of DNA research comes from comparing results with other family members. After some study of the test labs and the types of testing available, Family Tree DNA was selected as the preferred lab for Y-DNA testing, and it remains so today, although several labs now offer autosomal testing. The project was approved by Family Tree DNA on 26 October 2011, and by 11 November hundreds of e-mails had gone out announcing it. In 2010 I sent out only six e-mails related to DNA; in 2011, 674, most of them in the last six weeks of the year.

Membership was low at first, but growth was steady. There are currently 71 members.

Table 1: Project statistics

* These are the numbers reported by Family Tree DNA. My own records show that 59 members have taken autosomal tests, some of them transferred in from other labs.

Marlatt is the most common surname among members, followed by Mellott and Malott. Six members are related to the Melat family of Pennsylvania.

Table 2: Surnames of project members

What the project has accomplished

These were all group efforts that could not have been realized without the support of project members and the wider research community. Your contributions are truly advancing the state of knowledge of the family.

• Determined the haplogroup, ancient origins and early migration paths of the family.
• Identified the Y-DNA characteristics of the Marlatt, Marlett and MarLett group; of the Malott and Mellott group; and of the descendants of John Malott, born about 1722–26.
• Observed that John Marlatt (b. 1760–66, brother of William b. 1770), Abraham (b. 1773) and Robert Melat (b. 1799) all share a distinctive DNA marker with a descendant of Josias Merlet (b. ca 1645). More research is needed to confirm that all these men descend from Josias.
• Established that two members with the surnames Gordon and Welsh are from the Marlatt bloodline.
• Found that there may have been a break in the Marlatt bloodline between Abraham Marlatt (b. 1732) and George Marlatt (b. 1815).
• Determined, from Y-DNA, that John Marlatt (b. 1794) was unlikely to be the son of Abraham Marlatt (b. 1756–59), son of Abraham Marlatt (b. ca 1723) and Martha Vail.
• Established autosomal DNA groups for Thomas Marlett (b. 1698), John Marlatt (b. 1711), Abraham Marlatt (b. 1761), the father of John (b. 1760–66) and William (b. 1770), Abraham Marlatt (b. 1773), Joseph Marlatt (b. 1777), Robert Melat (b. 1799), John Marlatt (b. 1794), John Malott (b. 1722–26), Peter Malott (b. 1728), Benjamin Malott (b. 1734), Theodore Malott (b. ca 1775–83) and the Merlets.
• Observed possible autosomal connections among Abraham Marlatt (d. 1839), John Marlatt (b. 1794) and Jacob Marlatt (b. ca 1802), supporting the idea that they were sons of the same father.
• Located records indicating that Gedeon Merlet’s parents were most likely Josias Merle/Marles and Jeanne Robb.
• Determined from land records dated about 1685, 1693 and 1699 that the wife of Josias Merlet (b. 1645) was named Jane or Jean. Their son George was born about 1685, so she was likely his mother.
• Identified John Milat/Melat, in the 1800 census of New York City’s Ward 7, as a candidate for the father of John Marlatt (b. ca 1762–66) of Mansfield, New Jersey. The surnames Voorhis, Drake, Bird, Brown, Gardiner, Cregar, Hart and Parks are common to both families.
• Identified William Melette, in the 1810 census of Shenango Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania, as a candidate for the father of Robert Melat (b. 1799), for eleven separate reasons. Further work is needed to confirm it.
• Showed from baptism records of Christ Church, Ballston Spa, New York, that the Gideon Marlatt born 15 April 1753, who married Anne Vanderipe and is buried in the Marlatt Cemetery at Jasper, New York, was not the Gideon baptized in 1754 as the son of Abraham Marlatt and Martha Vail.
• Traced, with the help of family letters written in 1851–52 by the historian Lewis Vail, a probable line from Richard Marlatt of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and his wife Nelly (a daughter of Abraham Marlatt and Martha Vail) through Berkeley County, Virginia, to Abraham Marlatt of Coshocton County, Ohio (d. 1839) and John Marlatt (b. 1794). Vail was recalling conversations from 30 years before, so parts of this remain uncertain.
• Won approval, on 1 January 2019, of an application to the Ohio Genealogical Society’s First Families of Ohio, proving the paternal lineage of William P. Marlatt back to Josias Marles (b. ca 1600) with 113 supporting documents and both conventional and DNA research.
• Determined that Mary “Polly” Marlatte (1796–1864) of Warren County, New Jersey, who married Benjamin Reeder in 1816, was the daughter of William Marlatt (b. 1770) and Elizabeth Brown; and that Lydia Ann Marlatt (b. 1818, Penfield, New York), who married Thomas Aylesworth, may have been a daughter of Abraham Marlatt (b. 1785, Piscataway).
• Located a list of people drawing provisions at Detroit on 12 July 1784 that names Sarah Melot, widow, and five children: Kath’r (21), Peter (15), Blanch (9), Hezek’h (7, possibly a mistake for Keziah) and Theod’r (5).
• Wrote or drafted research papers on the families of George Marlatt (b. ca 1685), Paul Marlatt (b. ca 1716), Joseph (1752–1813) and Samuel (1796–1875) Marlatt, John Marlatt (b. 1762–66), Abraham Marlatt and Elizabeth Lane, the Marlatts of western Pennsylvania, Dirck Marlatt (chr. 1708), Gideon Marlatt (b. 1753), Abraham Marlatt and Elizabeth Furman, the will of Abram Merlett (1777), Richard and Leah (Beller) Marlatt of Berkeley County, Virginia, John and Catherine (Hammersley) Marlatt of Ohio, the probate of Abraham Morlatt of Coshocton County (1839), Abraham and Mary (Maple) Marlatt, Burgoyne Marlatt (b. 1784), Peter Malott (b. ca 1727) and his eleven children, and Jean Pierre Malott (b. 1658). Together they cite more than 2,500 references.
• Helped many family researchers extend their lineages, and administered the project: setting it up, sending announcements, helping members join, answering questions and writing this report.

B. Prehistory of the Marlatt-Merlet family

Anthropology and genetic genealogy have been instrumental in tracing the origins and migration routes of the Merlet family (Marlatt, Marlett, Melat, Malott, Mellott…) and of mankind as a whole. By analyzing DNA samples from indigenous people around the world, scientists have determined that mankind first evolved in Africa and then migrated to the Middle East, Asia, Australia, Europe and the rest of the globe. The earliest fossils of modern man, found in Ethiopia, are about 200,000 years old. Genetic research shows that all men living today share a common male ancestor born between 120,000 and 200,000 years ago, and studies in 2011 and 2012 support the idea that he lived in north-western Africa, though where in Africa man originated is still debated.

A chromosome is a thread-like structure in the nucleus of most living cells that carries genetic information in the form of genes. The Y chromosome determines a child’s sex; it is carried only by men and passed from father to son. Occasionally the order of its genetic building blocks changes from one generation to the next, and these mutations can be used as markers to track paternal lines.

Haplogroups are clans of people who share a set of genetic markers and a common ancestor. They are named by letters, A through S, and their markers by a letter and number in order of discovery (for example, M42). Testing shows that the male Marlatts, Marletts, Melats, Malotts and Mellotts are in haplogroup G, defined by the markers M168, M89 and M201.

Marker M168 first appeared in a man born 50,000 to 60,000 years ago, probably in northeastern Africa; about 85% of the world’s population descends from him. Our ancestors then probably looked much like modern African hunter-gatherers. Two to five thousand years later, marker M89 appeared in a man born either in northeastern Africa or the Middle East. The likely route out of Africa was across the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait on the Red Sea, the shortest crossing to a new continent: about 12 miles today, and perhaps less during the ice age, when sea levels were lower. There is evidence these early people ate seafood gathered by beachcombing, and harsh climates and dwindling food may have pushed them across the strait in search of new beaches.

About 30,000 years ago, marker M201 first arose in a man born in the Middle East, probably south of the Caucasus Mountains and perhaps near Lake Van, though possibly as far east as the Himalayan foothills.

Our co-administrator, Greg O. Marlatt, tested into haplogroup G2a. Haplogroup G2, defined by the mutation P287, is thought to have originated in Anatolia (modern Turkey) and is found most often in Europe and the Middle East, with a concentration in central Italy spreading north into the Swiss Alps; people in this group are very likely descendants of the Etruscans. G2a, defined by P15, seems to have originated in the Caucasus.

Herodotus claimed the Etruscans came from Lydia, in Anatolia, sent by their king to find a better land after a drought, a tale modern historians long doubted. But testing of Neolithic remains has now proven that G2a was one of the lineages of the farmers and herders who migrated from Anatolia into Europe between 9,000 and 6,000 years ago, bringing sheep and goats first domesticated south of the Caucasus about 12,000 years ago. That may explain why haplogroup G is most common in mountainous areas. Ancient skeletons from Talheim in Germany, Languedoc-Roussillon in southern France and Catalonia in Spain all confirm that Neolithic European farmers belonged to G2a.

Ötzi the Iceman, Europe’s oldest human mummy, who lived in the Italian Alps about 5,300 years ago, was also G2a. He carried a longbow, a quiver of fourteen arrows, a flint knife and a copper axe, and his last two meals were chamois and red deer, with bread made from processed grain. He was probably a hunter whose people also farmed wheat and barley. Agriculture had emerged in the Middle East about 10,000 years ago, and carbon dating shows farming communities in southeastern Europe by 7,000 years ago and northeastern Europe by 5,000. G2a may also be connected with the Cardium Pottery culture, known for pottery pressed with seashells, which stretched from the Adriatic to the east coast of Spain between 7,000 and 3,500 years ago.

Although far from definitive, our early ancestors may have followed a path like this one:

Table 3: Notional migration route of the Marlatt-Merlet family (haplogroup G2a)

Subclade testing is being used to narrow down where our ancient ancestors lived. A subclade is a subgroup of a haplogroup, defined by SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms): a difference in a single DNA building block. A few members have taken SNP tests, which extends the project’s tree to:

M201 (haplogroup G) > P287 > P15 > L1259 > L30 > CTS5762 > P303 > L140 > L497 > CTS9737 > Z725 > Z3158 > Z726 > CTS4803 > S2808

The Z726, CTS4803 and S2808 mutations occurred at about the same time, some 3,500 to 4,000 years ago, probably in the same place. If you have taken a Y-DNA test and your surname is Marlatt, Marlett, MarLett, Melat, Malott or Mellott, you probably have these same SNPs.

C. Immigrant ancestor of the family: Gedeon Merlet, born about 1624

Conventional genealogical research shows that Gedeon Merlet was probably the progenitor and immigrant ancestor of the Marlatts, Marletts, Malotts, Mellotts and related families in the United States. Gedeon, son of Josias Marles and Jeanne Robb, lived at Roucy, France, as a young man. (Greg Marlatt notes that Roucy may have been a temporary refuge for the family, since the Count of Roucy was a Huguenot.) He married Margariet Martijn in the Walloon Church at Leiden, Holland, on 21 August 1644, and three of their children were baptized there. The family lived briefly in Paris, returned to Leiden by 1652, and by 1653 had moved to Mannheim, Germany, where three more sons were baptized in the French church.

Gedeon, his wife and four sons sailed from Amsterdam on De Purmerlander Kerck on 12 October 1662 and reached New Amsterdam (now New York) by 18 February 1663. He owned land on Staten Island and lived there for much of his adult life, including 256 and 243 acres on the south side of the island and 30 acres of salt meadow at the mouth of Fresh Kill. Under English rule he was appointed constable by Governor Francis Lovelace in 1671, and in 1674, during the Dutch reoccupation, magistrate by Governor Colve. By 1684 he appeared among the first settlers of Piscataway, New Jersey, and an order of 20 March 1684, granting his sons Josias and Paulus a survey of their inherited land, shows that he had died by then.

Timeline of Gedeon Merlet

This timeline is also on its own page.

How his name was spelled

Across these records, Gedeon and Gideon are the most common spellings of his first name, and Merlet, Merlette and Marlett of his surname. That may help when searching online databases.

Table 5: Most common spellings of Gedeon Merlet’s name, by number of occurrences in the records above

D. Summary of Y-DNA test results

Y-DNA testing traces a man’s patriline, his father, his father’s father and so on, and shows whether two men share a common male ancestor. In a project like this one, it also reveals the DNA characteristics of the different branches of the family, which can help you focus your research on the branches that matter most to you.

Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes: 22 pairs of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. Women have two X chromosomes; men have one X, inherited from their mother, and one Y, inherited from their father. Because Y-DNA rarely changes from father to son, two male descendants of Gedeon Merlet who inherited his Y-DNA will have similar Y-DNA profiles. The occasional changes add up over many generations, and the amount of difference can be used to roughly estimate how long ago two men’s common ancestor lived.

Labs report Y-DNA as STR markers (short tandem repeats), counting how many times a short DNA sequence repeats at each of 12, 25, 37, 67 or more locations on the Y chromosome. That set of values is a man’s haplotype. A mutation usually changes a value by one or two, and the genetic distance between two men is the sum of the differences. On a 67-marker test, a distance of 0 means a very close relationship; 3 to 6 means related, but more distantly; 10 or more means not related within the genealogical time frame of 500 to 1,000 years. A value that changes in one branch may be passed down unchanged for several generations, which can help tell branches of the family apart.

Twenty-six members have taken Y-DNA tests. The results fall into three groups:

1. Marlatt, Marlett and MarLett men who trace their lines to Josias Merlet (b. 1645) or Abraham Marlatt (b. 1656).
2. Malott and Mellott men who trace their lines to Jean Pierre Malott (b. 1658).
3. Men whose lines have not yet been traced back to Gedeon.

One caveat: formal lineage proofs haven’t been provided for each of these lines. They are generally consistent with those in the public domain, but may change as knowledge grows.

For groups 1 and 2, the most common value of each marker (the mode) was calculated. These modal haplotypes are probably very close to those of Josias and Abraham (group 1) and of Jean Pierre (group 2). Highlighted values differ between the two groups.

Table 7: Modal haplotypes for group 1 (Marlatt, Marlett, MarLett) and group 2 (Malott, Mellott)

Markers 1–12

Markers 13–25

Markers 26–37

Markers 38–47

Markers 48–60

Markers 61–67

A surprising result

Seventeen of the 67 markers differ between the two groups, a genetic distance of 24. As explained above, anything 10 or more on 67 markers means the two groups are not related, or are only very distantly related. In other words, the descendants of Josias and Abraham are not closely related to the descendants of Jean Pierre, even though they are all in haplogroup G.

This is surprising, because baptism records show that Josias, Abraham and Jean Pierre were all sons of Gedeon Merlet. It suggests that a non-paternal event (an adoption, an unrecorded second marriage, or a child whose biological father was someone other than the recorded one) occurred somewhere in the Marlatt line, in the Malott line, or in both.

Group 1 has six members: one descended from Josias and five from Abraham. Both subgroups match the group mode closely, which suggests that Josias and Abraham had the same father, most likely Gedeon. Group 2 has eleven members, all descending through Theodorus Melot (b. 1694) and his father Jean Pierre: five through Theodorus’s son John (b. ca 1722–26), three through Joseph (b. ca 1735–39), two through Peter (b. ca 1728) and one through Benjamin (b. ca 1734). Their distances from the group mode range from 0 to 5, so all probably descend from Theodorus. If there was a break in the Malott-Mellott line, it happened either between Gedeon and Jean Pierre, or between Jean Pierre and Theodorus.

Members not yet linked to Gedeon

With the two group haplotypes established, the results of group 3 members can be compared with them. Several appear related to Josias or Abraham.

Table 8: Group 3 members (not yet linked to Gedeon) compared with groups 1 and 2

Marlatt, Marlett and MarLett group

The table below shows the group 1 members, with the distance of each from the group mode. The markers where a member differs from the mode are the most useful, because they may identify a particular branch. Marker DYS456 is an interesting example. Only one group 1 member has a value of 16 there, and he is the one who descends from Josias Merlet. But several group 3 members, not yet linked to Gedeon, also have a 16:

Table 9: Group 1 members

Table 10: Group 3 members with a value of 16 at marker DYS456

Could the descendants of Robert Melat (b. 1799) of Pennsylvania and the Warren County, New Jersey, Marlatts related to John Marlatt (b. ca 1762–66) descend from Josias? With only one tested descendant of Josias, that conclusion would be premature. But if more of Josias’s descendants test and also show a 16 at DYS456, it will gain weight. It may be worth noting that John Marlatt (b. ca 1762–66) and his brother William (b. 1770), and Abraham Marlatt (b. 1773) and his cousin Paul (b. 1772), were all contemporaries in Warren County. Abraham and Paul moved to Canada, while John and William stayed. The name Paul may have been handed down from Paul Marlatt (b. ca 1716), a descendant of Josias, which tends to support the idea.

The table can also test a hypothesis. I once believed my own ancestor, John Marlatt (b. 1794), was the son of Abraham Marlatt (b. 1756–59), son of Abraham (b. ca 1723) and grandson of Thomas Merlet (b. ca 1698). But my haplotype (kit 211264) was different enough from that of the descendant of Thomas (kit 687871) to call it into question.

Malott and Mellott group

In this group, marker DYS388 is especially noteworthy. Two kits (222750 and 354704) have a value of 15 there, and a third on the same line (856568) has 14; everyone else has 13. All three descend from Theodore Malott (b. 1775–83) and his father Joseph Malott (b. 1735–59). Theodore is thought to have married Catherine Wigle about 1799 in Essex County, Ontario. His lineage is debated: some researchers place his father Joseph as a son of Peter Malott (b. 1728), others as a son of Theodore (b. 1694). Either way, a DYS388 value of 14 or 15 may point to the branch of the Malott family that made its way to Canada after being attacked by Indians at Fish Creek on the Ohio River between 1778 and 1780.

Table 11: Group 2 members

The first line in this table is the line of the site owner’s family: through Peter Malott, Theodore “Dory” Malott, Prather Malott, Delos C. Malott and William Samuel Malott to George Dewey Malott.

Y-DNA testing has helped the project estimate the haplotypes of the family’s progenitors, identify members of the family, find where breaks in the bloodline occurred, tell the branches apart, and give clues to which branch a test taker comes from. As more men test, the branches of the family tree will be better defined, leading ultimately to a fully developed genetic tree for the family.

E. Summary of autosomal DNA test results

Autosomal DNA tests (called Family Finder at Family Tree DNA) find cousins on all of your family lines who share ancestors with you going back six generations or so. They also estimate your ethnic mix, and their chromosome browsers show which segments of which chromosomes you share with each match. With techniques such as triangulation, that information can identify an unknown ancestor or confirm a lineage.

Autosomal DNA is the 22 pairs of non-sex chromosomes. A child inherits half of each parent’s DNA, so on average each grandparent contributes 25%, each great-grandparent 12.5%, and so on. Beyond the parents there is considerable variation, and after enough generations you no longer carry DNA from every ancestor. That is why distant cousins may share none at all.

Table 12: Average share of DNA received from one ancestor

The amount of DNA you share with a match, measured in centiMorgans (cM), roughly predicts your relationship: the higher the number, the closer the relationship. The ranges for different relationships overlap, so use judgement, and your match’s family tree, to choose the best fit.

An example of triangulation

Two of our members, call them SM and AM, share 105 cM. That could fit several relationships, but it is closest to the average for second cousins once removed (112 cM, with a range of about 30–215). Their family trees agree:

• George Marlatt b. 1815 > SM’s grandfather > SM’s father > SM
• George Marlatt b. 1815 > AM’s great-grandfather > AM’s grandfather > AM’s mother > AM

That makes them second cousins once removed. But can we confirm that the DNA they share actually came from George? Yes, by triangulation: finding three or more people who all share the same DNA segment on the same chromosome. If each matches the other two on that segment, and two of them trace back to a common ancestor, the third very likely descends from that ancestor too, unless they are related some other way.

Both SM and AM match a woman we’ll call LB: SM shares 171 cM with her, and AM 76 cM. (Matches under about 7 cM are often false.) On SM’s chromosome browser, LB’s and AM’s segments on chromosome 7 overlap by 14.5 cM, and AM’s browser confirms that AM and LB share that same stretch. So all three share the same segment. LB hadn’t posted a lineage, only that her mother was a Marlatt, but conventional research then traced her line back to George Marlatt (b. 1815). The exercise confirmed SM’s lineage, confirmed SM’s relationship to AM, and extended LB’s tree. For more on triangulation, Blaine Bettinger’s The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy is highly recommended.

Family Tree DNA also lets you filter matches by name or ancestral surname, and its “In Common With” button narrows your list to people who match both you and a chosen match.

DNA family groups

Project members’ records were reviewed for their reported lineages and for matches carrying the family surnames. Where two or more people appear to share a common ancestor, they form a DNA family group named for that ancestor. Many of the matches do seem to descend from the named ancestor, but some probably match the test taker through other lines. Triangulation hasn’t yet been done on each group to confirm them; that will be an interesting study for the future.

Table 14: DNA family groups (the report’s list of potential descendants by name is omitted here)

Together with Y-DNA and conventional research, autosomal testing will allow the family tree to be developed and confirmed all the way back to the family’s progenitor. Based on the evidence so far, these are the male grandchildren (and a few great-grandchildren) of Gedeon Merlet who likely had male descendants. No sons of Paulus are known; only Josias, Abraham and Jean Pierre are known to have had sons who carried the family name forward.

Figure 11: Male descendants of Gedeon Merlet who likely carried on the family name

F. What is the next step?

Focus of future research

The top priority is to grow the project’s membership, both to develop haplotypes for each branch of the family and to identify the shared autosomal segments of each DNA family group.

1. Characterize each major branch with Y-DNA. At least two tested men are needed from each of these sons:
   • Sons of George Merlet (b. ca 1685): Paul (b. ca 1716), George (b. ca 1720) and John (b. ca 1721).
   • Sons of Abraham Marlatt (b. 1656): Thomas (b. 1698), Gedeon (b. 1700), George (b. 1706), Dirck (b. 1708) and John (b. 1711).
   • Sons of Theodore (b. 1694): John (b. ca 1722–26), Theodore (b. ca 1724–27), Peter (b. 1728), Benjamin (b. 1734), Joseph (b. 1735–39) and Thomas (b. ca 1740).
2. Characterize these family groups with Y-DNA and autosomal testing:
   • Pennsylvania Marlatts: Daniel (b. 9 Jan 1772, New Jersey), William Melette (b. ca 1766–74), Joseph (b. ca 1777, New Jersey), George (b. ca 1775–84, Pennsylvania), John (b. ca 1784) and Robert Melat (b. 1799).
   • Warren County, New Jersey Marlatts: Abraham (b. ca 1752–58), John (b. ca 1760–66), William (b. 1770), Paul (b. 1772) and Abraham (b. 1773).
   • Virginia Marlatts: Derck (b. ca 1745), Abraham (b. 1732), Abraham Morlat (father of John b. 1794), Abraham (b. ca 1761), Richard (b. ca 1762), Joseph (b. 1790), John (b. 1794) and Gideon Morlatt.
   • Monmouth County, New Jersey Marlatts: John (b. 1711), Dirck (b. ca 1745), John (b. ca 1748–52), Samuel (b. ca 1750) and Gideon (b. 1753).
   • Canadian Malotts: Joseph (b. 1735–39), Peter (b. 1765), David (b. 1777) and Theodore (b. ca 1779).
   • Kentucky Malotts: Joseph (d. before 1803) and his sons Isaac and David.
3. Help members extend their lineages back to Gedeon Merlet.
4. Develop well-documented family group sheets for each of the main families above.

How you can help

• If you’re not a member, consider taking a DNA test and joining the Marlatt-Merlet project at Family Tree DNA.
• If you are a member, take an autosomal test (men and women) and a 67-marker Y-DNA test (men who carry the family surname), if you haven’t already.
• If you tested autosomal DNA at another lab, consider transferring your results to Family Tree DNA.
• Invite other descendants of Gedeon Merlet to test and join. Check your match list now and then for new matches with the family surnames (Marlatt, Marlett, Melat, Malott, Mellott, Merlet and so on) and invite them.
• Post your family tree on Family Tree DNA and keep it up to date, and fill in your earliest known ancestors and surnames in your account settings. Be sure to name a beneficiary for your account.
• Share this report with your family and fellow researchers.
• Learn more about genetic genealogy; Blaine Bettinger’s book is an excellent start.
• Consider uploading your autosomal data to GEDmatch to find more matches and use its advanced tools.

Thank you for your involvement in the Marlatt-Merlet DNA Project.

Bill Marlatt
Marlatt-Merlet DNA Project Administrator