Website Design Choices

Formatting
Due to Squarespace formatting, the site is best viewed on a computer in full screen. On a phone/tablet, all of the “family tree” text sections are scrambled in regard to order. Down the road I hope to find some custom code or plugin which will resolve the issue.

For my own research purposes, you will see that I denote individuals with a generational number. Ex. [G1], [G2], [G3], etc. It makes file organization, storage, and retrieval exponentially easier since names are often passed down successively. Jürgen is the furthest back ancestor currently on record, so he and Catharina are [G1].


Families Section
This section is made up of 5 pages which I feel are an important part of the overall storytelling of the Bals family history. Theodor Balz Family [G7] and four of his sons.

  • Theodor Balz Family [G7] is the last common ancestor between what ultimately become the German families and the American families.

  • Franz Ferdinand Joseph Bals [G8] is the Bals-Lusebrink heir.

  • Peter Ferdinand Bals [G8] emigrates to America.

  • Heinrich Anton Bals [G8] emigrates to America.

  • Anton Theodor Balz [G8] leaves the Bals-Lusebrink, but farms for himself in Schmerlecke.

It’s not that I don’t find the other children fascinating, because I do. I just don’t have any information on them and since several spend their lives in service to the clergy, they don’t have families.
It’s possible that over time more Family pages are added. It’s equally possible that Individual pages are added and Family pages become redundant and therefore obsolete.


Individuals Section
Squarespace doesn’t support nested drop downs [submenus], so I have no choice but to use a single list.
I chose to order the pages chronologically by birth date. That cleanly orders the generations, but doesn’t visually associate parents and children.
Even if nested dropdown were supported, that would quickly become a visual nightmare.
If anyone has a shorthand labeling idea, I’m open to suggestions.


Sources
I have a main ‘Source’ page which appears on the top navigation bar, but there is also a source section at the bottom most pages throughout the website.

Why are citing the sources important?

  • Many people before me put in the work to gather the information I’m able to share here and they deserve the credit.

  • Fellow researchers are given the ability to fact check. I’m finding mistakes in the work of past researchers [names, dates, etc], so it stands to reason I’ll also make mistakes


Incomplete Pages
There is one remaining incomplete/in progress page, which is the Bals-Lusebrink Site page. I think I’ll have better idea of how to proceed with it after the 2026 Germany trip as I’ll be collecting data at several sites and hopefully a format/direction becomes self evident.
Now that the site has an acceptable amount of content, I just leave the in progress pages unpublished.

Unpublished/Unstarted Pages
History: Benninghausen Monastery & Family Farming
Individuals: Kelsey Staiert [G12] - Grandson of Elmer Bals and the last farmer that I know of within Ferdinand’s bloodline.
Sites: Germany: Schmerlecke, Benninghausen, Horn-Millinghausen & Erwitte | Nebraska: David City & Crete | Iowa: Fonda