Help
Find guidance for using and contributing to the family archive.
Preparing this page…
Pedraza Ancestry
PRIVATE FAMILY HISTORY ARCHIVE
Register or sign in to request additional viewing access to the family tree.
PRIVATE FAMILY HISTORY ARCHIVE
Register or sign in to request additional viewing access to the family tree.
Help
Find guidance for using and contributing to the family archive.
Find clear instructions for exploring the archive, requesting access, contributing information, and caring for the family record.
Use the menus to browse the tree, people, stories, reports, and research. The search box at the top finds people, places, and research records after you pause briefly while typing. Search continues to ignore accents and letter case.
Use Print in Stories, Reports, People, or Family Tree. The print dialog waits for the watermark to load; printed cards are transparent. Use Imprimir en Historias, Informes, Personas o Árbol familiar. El diálogo espera a que se cargue la marca de agua; las tarjetas impresas son transparentes.
The Home page displays a rotating selection drawn from uploaded family photographs for every visitor. PDFs and files named certificate or certificado are excluded. Every three seconds, one randomly selected box receives a randomly selected photograph while every other photograph remains in place. The same box is not selected twice in a row, and the 30 most recently displayed photographs are excluded from immediate reuse whenever the collection allows it. Rotation pauses when the browser tab is inactive or reduced motion is preferred.
On any People profile, use the always-visible Home person button to return to your saved starting person. Registered users with approved family access can set their own Home person from the People page or Family Tree chart; an approved person association also sets it automatically, and the choice affects only their account.
Choose a person, use the mouse wheel to change the number of visible generations, and drag or use the arrow keys to pan. Right-click a person for a shortcut to that profile.
In People → Family connections → Edit family connections, administrators can create a family group or change its separate Parent, Partner, and Child entries. Review the whole group, then save. All listed children connect to all listed parents. Siblings follow shared parents. Removing a connection keeps the person’s profile. Duplicate groups and ancestry loops are blocked.
Open Advanced search and discovery in People. Combine name, surname, place, birth/death year ranges, photos, sources, and missing-information filters. Names ignore accents and letter case. Unknown dates are excluded from date ranges; protected details are searchable only with approved access.
Profiles bring together family connections, grouped birth, death, marriage, education, other biographical details, life events, research, and media. Select a linked relative to move directly to that person.
In People, administrators and approved family members can select Click to see pictures where this person is tagged without entering edit mode. Select the heading again to close the gallery. Pictures load when opened; an empty gallery or loading error is explained inside the section.
Approved family members can view private photos and documents. Administrators can use Choose from Family Photo Library in the picture editor to search stored photographs by person, description, or filename and attach the same original to another profile without uploading a duplicate. A profile’s Pictures where this person is tagged section gathers every original photograph containing that person without duplicating reused files. When the same original image is attached to more than one profile, its person tags automatically appear everywhere that shared image is used. Select a picture to open it full size with that person identified. In full-image view, hover over another tagged face and select the name to open that profile. Administrators can use Tag person to choose a person, draw an oval around the face, verify it, and save, edit, or remove the tag.
Profiles bring together family connections, grouped biography, life events, research, and media. Select a linked relative to move directly to that person.
Approved members can view private photos and documents. Reused uploads share one original file while preserving the people connected to it.
In a People profile, select Create album, enter a name, and save it. Rename or delete albums from the album card when editing. Use the album cover to open the album viewer, then select a thumbnail or the left and right controls to browse full-size pictures. In edit mode, use the Album only upload choice to keep new pictures in the album without adding them to the profile, or choose Album and profile to add the same upload to both places. Multiple pictures can be selected in one upload. Reorder album pictures with the available controls and select a picture as the cover.
Administrators can update supported GEDCOM fields from the People profile and save the changes to the current family tree.
Use Register / sign in by email, then choose Request family access. The administrator approves access before private profile details and pictures are revealed.
Anyone may explore public family connections. Information about living people and private media remain protected until access is approved.
Approved family-access users can request association with the person they represent. The administrator approves each request and receives a warning if that person is already linked to another account. After approval, the user can make their profile picture, additional pictures, and tagged-picture gallery visible or hidden without deleting the files.
Use Contribute to submit a person, life event, relationship, picture, or document. New-person fields are grouped by birth, death, marriage, education, and other biographical details. Include the required family connection so the administrator can place it accurately.
Contributions do not appear in the tree immediately. The administrator reviews each item and you receive an email when it is accepted or rejected.
Signed-in contributors can use their contributor dashboard in Contribute to see the current status and any administrator feedback.
Choose a person in Stories to read their timeline, photographs, relatives, and sources. Share story copies a link that opens that person; if copying is unavailable, select the displayed link. Print story produces a Letter portrait story without menus or controls. Visitors see only the information their access permits.
Under Family Tree, explore recorded life events and places, then open a selected location on a map. The Family Timeline displays seven entries at a time; use Previous and Next to move through the complete chronology.
Use Print profile for an individual record or Reports for a household summary. The Family Tree chart has its own print button for a landscape chart.
Approved members and administrators can open Library to search uploaded photographs, PDFs, sources, and references. Six items appear at a time; use Previous and Next to browse the complete collection. Filter by type or associated person. Click a file to open its original or a person to open their profile. Reused uploads are grouped with their associated people.
The Research menu organizes citations, claims, notes, and unresolved evidence. Its source and document library displays two items at a time with Previous and Next controls. Source entries show their associated people through linked citations.
GEDCOM round-trip validation checks whether the current tree can be exported safely without losing people, family groups, relationships, dates, events, sources, or media references, and confirms valid GEDCOM structure for backup or transfer. The GEDCOM health check examines the data inside the tree for missing information, relationship inconsistencies, possible duplicates, chronology conflicts, and source or evidence gaps. The health check asks whether the family data is internally complete and consistent; round-trip validation asks whether it can be exported and reconstructed safely. A count discrepancy in a round-trip summary is a reporting issue, not evidence of duplicate people in the tree.
Stewardship is where the administrator approves access requests and public submissions, adds a rejection explanation when needed, reviews change history, and manages the archive.
At the top of Stewardship, administrators can review every recorded signed-in account, registered email address, access level, and account status. The newest ten appear first; use search, access filtering, or View earlier users to find older accounts. Grant family access gives an eligible public viewer approved access directly.
The family database is prepared once for each active service instance, major menus load their browser code only when opened, and name-only selectors request a lightweight people index instead of a complete profile. These performance improvements do not change family records or how the site is used.
This Help Center is updated with each published change that affects how the site is used. The current release number appears in About.
Administrators can use Stewardship → Review to find possible duplicates, date conflicts, relationship questions, and incomplete family records. Each item is a prompt for review; the site never changes the tree automatically.
The Review page lists profiles that may benefit from dates, family connections, media, or supporting evidence. In Research, label citations as strong, limited, or not yet rated to make unresolved evidence easy to find.
In Review, select Run GEDCOM health check to rescan the current tree on demand. Signals can include more than two parents in one family group, missing relationship types, date conflicts, source gaps, and incomplete family groups. Use Open record to correct to jump directly to the relevant profile.
In Family Tree → Family History, select a person to see a concise summary of that person’s recorded branch, events, and places.
Stewardship is where the administrator approves access requests and public submissions, reviews change history, and manages the archive.
Administrators can review registered accounts, access levels, and account status, then grant family access when appropriate.
Run the on-demand health check to find possible duplicates, relationship questions, chronology conflicts, and evidence gaps.
Need to share a photograph or document? Use Contribute if the item should be reviewed before joining the tree. Administrators can also add media directly while editing a People profile.