Tracking Migration (or lack thereof) - The Ulrich Line

Pinterest has some great pins and links to help the family historian, and some fun ideas about ways to show your data. I found a cool graphic one person created with an Excel spreadsheet to show migration patterns in his family. In the example I saw, the creator used birth locations only and did a pedigree type of chart. Each new location had a different color, and I thought it was a great graphic to show how a family moved through the generations.

I started to think about how I could use that. We know so little about one of our lines - the Janus / Francus side, that we could only go back to our grands with any confidence. I chose to go for the Shappell / Ulrich lines since we can go a few greats back and see how those charts would look.

I started with Ulrichs and determined this project to be time intensive. I wanted to review my source material and fill in a few blanks. The Shappells will have to wait a while. One thing both the Ulrichs and Shappells have in common is many, many generations in Berks County. I found a map of Berks County with most of the town/township names I've come across outlined for reference.

Since all of my Ulrich line from the 1700s through Mom in 1945 were born in Berks County, PA, USA, I decided to abbreviate the chart a bit so I wouldn't run out of space. Actually, the Ulrichs seem to have arrived in Philadelphia (possibly with Adam, my 7 times great- grandfather), moved to Berks County and never left! (Uncolored cells are names and/or locations I don't have or can't confirm.) I had to go back to my 7x greats to get my Ulrich line out of Berks County, PA and the USA.

Berks, Bucks and Northampton Counties in 1770

Below is another branch of the Ulrichs. Elizabeth Billman married Jacob Ulrich in 1807 making her my 5x great grand mother. Her branch of the family is a little more colorful! I've been able to trace her father into Northampton Co, his folks into Bucks Co, and the next generation into Europe!

Abraham is my 4x great; Elizabeth is 5x; Johanes is 6x; Conrad 7x; Hans David 8x; Hans George 9x great grand.