To present a comprehensive overview of a complex family tree on the internet is a challenging task. The graphic shown above is a screenshot from my Kith&Kin database, which displays the descendants of Claus Patscheider on the left and my ancestors on the right.
Each gray box represents a family. My wife Gertrude and I are located in the bottom right corner. The blue lines represent male ancestry, while the pink lines represent female ancestry. By following the blue line starting from me to the left, you can trace back to Claus Patscheider born in 1497, who is my oldest known direct ancestor. This line is the overlap between Claus Patscheidt's descendants and my ancestors. The remaining branches in the tree are unclassified single family groups that cannot, or not yet, be categorized in the overall family tree.
Currently, my database stores 647 families with a total of 2,670 individuals. Most genealogy programs cannot realize a freely scalable graphical representation of a family tree. However, the Kith&Kin program, which I use to manage my family tree on my PC, offers this feature.
The goal is of course to make this family tree interactive, so that with a click on each box the data behind the family is displayed. But I am not so far here yet, this is only with "My Ancestors" already realized.
Explanation:
This family tree represents both the descendants of Claus Patscheider on the left and my ancestors on the right. Each gray box represents a family with parents and children. If a male child has remarried, a blue line leads to the next box, which again represents a family. The female descendants follow with a pink line to the next family. The boxes are arranged in levels, with each level representing a generation.
When tracing the descendants of Claus Patscheider, only male descendants or females who continued to be called Patscheider after marriage are considered.
The pink cross lines show that some female Patscheiders married a Patscheider again, with many of them unaware of their familial relationship.
Interestingly, there is even a cross-connection from my ancestors to the descendants of Claus Patscheider: Christian Patscheider to Pedros married Maria Monzin in 1761, who was likely the daughter of a brother of MONZ Maria born in 1641 (my 7x great-grandmother!). However, the information about this relationship in Dr. Richard Patscheider's book is somewhat contradictory. I hope that this representation will facilitate the overview and contribute to the understanding of the family tree and its complexities.
The unclassified branches are from the work of Josef Wopfner's manuscript no. 3992 "Family tree Patscheider 1550-1920." I have integrated some of these branches into the total tree by merging this manuscript with the records in the book "vom Oberrhein zum Etschquellraum" with the help of modern technology's search functions. However, as clearly visible in the graphic above, some families and partial trees still remain unclassified.
