Jeremiah Marlatt, born June 1, 1833, in Mendon, Monroe County, New York, was a prominent farmer and merchant in Nemaha County, Nebraska. Moving to Nebraska in 1856, Marlatt pre-empted a farm and later purchased eighty acres southwest of Brownville. He engaged in mercantile pursuits in Aspinwall from 1881 to 1885. Marlatt married Ellen Gulick on January 11, 1857, and they had two daughters, Effie and Sarah Ellen. Marlatt served as a teacher before his business endeavors and was known for his active involvement in the community. He and his wife traveled extensively and were respected residents of Brownville.
Jeremiah Marlatt. Among the citizens of Brownville to whom is vouchsafed an honored retirement from labor, as the reward of a long, active, and useful business career, is Jeremiah Marlatt, who for a number of years was prominently connected with the agricultural and mercantile interests of Nemaha County. He was born in Mendon, Monroe County, New York, on the 1st of June, 1833, in which state his father, Mark Marlatt, also had his nativity. The latter was born in Schenectady, in 1787, and was there married in 1811 to Dorothy Frank, who was born there in 1789, and they became the parents of ten children, as follows: Michael, deceased, was a cooper and farmer in Lenawee County, Michigan, to which place he removed about 1867, and reared two sons; Effie, who was born about 1816, was the wife of John Speer, by whom she had three sons, and she died in 1904 in New York; Andrew, who died in Honeoye Falls, New York, was a prominent agriculturist, and was the father of one son and four daughters; Maria, who became the wife of a Mr. Morgan, and died at the age of forty-five years, in Mendon, New York, after becoming the mother of one son, and she was the first of the family to pass away; Daniel, who was engaged in coopering and farming in Lenawee County, to which state he removed in 1836, is also deceased; Alvah, who removed to Los Angeles, California, in 1853, died there in 1878; John, who was engaged in farming in New York, was killed by a train about 1896; Martin, also engaged in agricultural pursuits in that state, was called to his final rest about 1899; Jeremiah; and Frederick, who is a farmer near Rockport, Missouri. The last named came to the west in 1859, and at the time of the Civil War enlisted from Iowa in the artillery service. After the close of the war he taught school in Missouri, and was there married. He has served as assessor of his county and was defeated for the office of county clerk by only three votes. Mrs. Dorothy Marlatt departed this life in the fall of 1864, on the old home farm in Monroe County, and there the father passed away in 1872, when eighty-five years of age, leaving an estate valued at twenty thousand dollars. The parents were members of the Baptist church.
During one year Jeremiah Marlatt was a student in Genesee College at Lima, New York, and during the winter of 1854-55 he was employed as a teacher in Missouri. Forty-seven years ago, in 1856, he came to Nemaha County, Nebraska, where he pre-empted a farm but lost his claim. In 1862 he became the owner of eighty acres located two and a half miles southwest of Brownville, the purchase price being nine hundred dollars, but the place has since increased in value until it is now worth five thousand dollars. For four years, from 1881 to 1885, Mr. Marlatt was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Aspinwall, during three years of which time business was carried on under the firm name of Marlatt & King, and for one year he was alone, and on the expiration of that period he sold his interest on account of poor health.
In Brownville, on the 11th of January, 1857, Mr. Marlatt was united in marriage to Mrs. Ellen Gulick, the widow of Lafayette Gulick, a native of Dayton, Ohio, and there their marriage was also celebrated, but three months afterward Mr. Gulick was called from this earth, his death resulting from an accident while serving in the position of a fireman. Mrs. Marlatt is the daughter of Isaac and Sarah (Crouch) Westfall, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Kentucky. Their marriage occurred at Dayton, Ohio, where they were farming people, and they became the parents of eight children, two sons and six daughters, Mrs. Marlatt being the youngest in order of birth and the only one now living. The father died in Ohio in 1852, when sixty-four years of age. Two daughters have blessed the union of Mr. Marlatt and his wife: Effie, the widow of William Drain, a resident of Chapman, Kansas, and the mother of three sons; and Sarah Ellen, the wife of Frank M. King, of Holton, Kansas, and they have one son and two daughters. Both daughters were educated in Brownville and Peru. Mr. and Mrs. Marlatt are justly proud of their two granddaughters, who are proficient in both vocal and instrumental music, and also of their grandson, Clyde F. King, who is now twenty-three years of age and a member of the legal profession. During the past twenty years, Mr. and Mrs. Marlatt have spent much of their time traveling, having visited the Dakotas, the Hot Springs, Deadwood, Lead City, Idaho Springs, Clear Creek, Manitou Springs, and many other places of interest. In this county, where they have so long resided, they are held in the highest regard by their innumerable friends.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company, A Biographical and Genealogical History of Southeastern Nebraska, 2 volumes, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904.