Abraham Marlatt
c. 1773–1835
Born about 1773 in New Jersey. He went to Upper Canada about 1790 and farmed in Clinton Township, Lincoln County, in the Niagara District, where he died in 1835. Not the Abraham Marlatt of Virginia and Ohio who was baptised the same year.
Life events
| Born | about 1773 | New Jersey |
|---|---|---|
| Moved | about 1790–91 | Niagara District, Upper Canadafrom Log Gaol (now Johnsonburg), New Jersey, with his cousin Paul Marlatt; both were granted land in 1791 |
| Will | 11 February 1835 | Clinton Township, Lincoln County, Upper Canadaas Abraham Marlatt, yeoman, “somewhat infirm in body”; signed with his mark. Witnesses William Walker, Allen Simmerman and Samuel Simmerman |
| Died | 1835 | Clinton Township, Lincoln County, Upper Canadabetween 11 February and 14 September; a family tree gives 12 August |
| Inventory | 14 September 1835 | Clinton Townshippersonal estate of about £200: three horses, four cows, a yoke of oxen, twenty-three sheep, a wagon, a fanning mill, three ploughs, a sleigh, and wheat, oats, barley and buckwheat |
| Probate | 23 September 1835 | Niagara, Upper Canadawill proved in the Surrogate Court of the Niagara District on the oaths of John J. Patterson, executor, and William Walker |
Research note: his will and his children
The will names two families. Two daughters are named without comment and were probably children of an earlier marriage; no wife is mentioned:
- Mary, “my eldest daughter,” wife of John H. Comfort, who was left one cow.
- Rachel, wife of Samuel Eveland.
Five more he calls his natural children by Mary Null, “wife to Peter Null,” his housekeeper:
- Paul Marlatt, who was left the farm.
- John Mills Marlatt, an executor of the will.
- Elizabeth, wife of William J. Comfort.
- Hannah, wife of Samuel McEnery.
- Jane, wife of Patrick McGaw.
The farm was the north parts of Lots 20 and 21 in the Sixth Concession and the south part of Lot 21 in the Fifth Concession of Clinton Township. Paul was to hold it on condition that he supply Mary Null every year with twenty bushels of wheat, 250 pounds of salted pork, eight pounds of Young Hyson tea, twenty-five pounds of sugar, a third of the fruit and her firewood. Mary was to have the house for life, or for as long as she lived “unconnected with any other man,” and after her death whatever remained was to be divided among Rachel and the three younger daughters. The executors were John Mills Marlatt, James Simmerman and John J. Patterson, Esquire.
Who Mary was. Null was her married name. She was born Mary Mills, a daughter of John Mills of Sussex County, New Jersey, which explains the name of her son John Mills Marlatt. She and Abraham were never legally married, but her tombstone calls her the wife of Abraham Marlatt. This comes from Amy Brennan, who descends from their son Paul and has traced that line from the records.
The surnames McEnery and McGaw are best readings of the handwriting.
Family researchers also give Abraham a son William, who is not named in the will.
Download the complete file (PDF, 8 pages, 2 MB): the will, the executor’s and witness’s oaths, and the inventory.
Source: will, inventory and probate papers of Abraham Marlatt of Clinton, Surrogate Court of the Niagara District, 1835–36 (will copied on pages 70–71 of Book A). Copies shared by Amy Brennan, who also supplied the reading of the name Null and Mary’s identity.
Research note: the family burial ground
Mary is buried in Konkle-Marlatt Cemetery, also called Mountain Presbyterian Cemetery, at Konkle Road and Philp Road in the Town of Lincoln, Ontario (the old Clinton Township, Concession 5, Lot 22; GPS 43.143127, -79.502328). That is the lot next to the farm Abraham left to Paul, and the cemetery land is said to have belonged first to the Marlatts. It is the oldest burial ground in the neighborhood; a log church stood there by about 1802.
Her stone reads “Mary, wife of Abraham Marlatt,” died 19 August 1858. The cemetery index gives her age as 71, so she was born about 1787. No stone for Abraham himself was found when the cemetery was indexed in 2010.
Five more Marlatt stones stand in the same cemetery. All of these people are in Amy Brennan’s family tree with the same dates, as descendants of Abraham and Mary through their son Paul.
Sources: CanadaGenWeb’s Cemetery Project, cemetery.canadagenweb.org, Konkle-Marlatt Presbyterian / Mountain Presbyterian Cemetery (project no. ONLIN12457), index of all headstones visible in 2010; photographs © Sharon Mattiuz, used with credit under the project’s family-tree permission. Cemetery history from its Find a Grave listing. See it on the Worldwide Cemeteries map.
Research note: two Abrahams born in 1773
Because he was born in New Jersey in 1773, this man has long been taken for the Abraham baptised at Neshanic that November, the son of Dirck (Richard) and Nelly Marlatt. William P. Marlatt argues that they were two men: Dirck’s son went to Virginia as a boy and is Abraham Marlatt of Coshocton County, Ohio.
The parents of this Abraham are not known, and none are shown here. His descendants can document the line from him downward, but nothing yet found names his father, so the family cannot at present be tied to Gideon by records. A full Y-DNA test of one of his male-line descendants places him on a branch shared with a descendant of John Marlatt (born about 1762) of Sussex County, New Jersey, and apart from the descendants of Dirck Marlatt. That, and his travelling with a cousin Paul who was himself from Sussex County, point to the line of Josias Merlet, Gideon’s eldest son, not to Abraham’s. His will says nothing of his parents or of New Jersey, so it does not settle the question.
Source: William P. Marlatt, Family of Abraham and Mary (Maple) Marlatt of New Jersey, Virginia and Ohio (30 September 2019), Appendix C.