Hi Al,
Glad you like my elms. By the way, the second one is about two inches out from being a shohin, coming in at around 10 inches(darn)
As to your question about the branch crossing over the trunk, I've had many people ask the same thing. Some liked it, others like yourself, couldn't see the reason for it. This is one of those situations where the tree actually got away from me on the upper part, and it's my attempt to not make it look so top heavy by bringing some foliage down to the middle and lower part of the trunk. You can see what I mean if you go to page two of my gallery to see it in leaf, or you can go to this link and see it it in five years development.
Link
I would really like to do away with this branch, but a lot of the crown has thick branch structure which would need to be pruned back so as not to look too top heavy. What I will end up with is a lot of thick stub ended branches that will take years to close if they ever do. Ch. elms are good for not closing their wounds all the way. It's something I'm still considering though.