I don't have no number 1,000

Randy seems to have decided that we genea-bloggers need to have more fun! Not a bad idea, Randy. In his post last night (Sunday morning by my clock!), he asks who is Reference Number 1,000 in your genealogy software?

In my database, number 1,000 is missing in action! Number 999 is Birch B. Smeltzer. 1,001 is a living person. The next number in my database is 1006, who is Eleanor Sisley.

What happened to numbers 1000, and 1002 through 1005? Deleted. Gone. Early on in my research I added the names of the parents of spouses of relatives into my database. I have since switched to putting the parents names in the notes for the spouse and deleted them from my database. Less "clutter" in the database that way and fewer people to keep track of too! They aren't related to me and I usually don't have any dates or other information on them. Anyway, it is likely that the "missing" reference numbers are some of those people.

Birch B. Smeltzer was the husband of Fern Carrie Stemm, my first cousin four times removed. Birch was born October 1, 1887 in Elkhart County, Indiana and was the son of Daniel and Ida (Lammond) Smeltzer. Fern was born June 15, 1900 also in Elkhart County and was the last of seven children born to Lewis Austin and Susan Alice (Sevits) Stem. Lewis was the son of Conrad and Indiana (Sisley) Stem. Birch and Fern were married May 9, 1925 in Elkhart County. He died in 1950 and she in 1970. They are buried in Prairie Street Cemetery in Elkhart. I don't know if they had any children or not; I still need to get their obituaries.

Eleanor Sisley, also known as Nellie, is my 4th Great Grandaunt. She is the sister of Indiana Sisley who married Conrad Stem. And they are two of the ten children of Lewis and Margaret (Ellis) Sisley. According to the The Sisley Family Bible, Eleanor was born October 4, 1797 and was "joined in marriage with Robert Lyon September 4th 1819". She died March 15th 1861. Eleanor Lyon(s) lived in Cookstown Borough, Fayette County, Pennsylvania; she was a widow when her father's estate was settled in 1834. The 1840 census for that location indicates that she may have had at least three children. In the 1850 census, John Lyons, a 16 year old male, was listed in the household of Ellanor Lyons.