The Ping Family of America

I learned today of the passing of Jan Bullock. It's likely many of you were unfamiliar with him.

While I never met him in person, he and I shared a great deal of our research over the years, most particularly on the Ping and Bullock families of
southeastern Kentucky. Jan was a descendant of Jesse Bowling Bullock (1788-1861) and Elizabeth (Ping) Bullock (1790-1861) and had done a considerable amount of research on the origins of both families, much of which has been incorporated into the material on this site. In that sense, he has contributed a great deal to this site, although sadly he passed before we got it off the ground.

It is my hope to honor his memory as I would wish, as a genealogist, that one day my own would be: To freely share the results of a lifetime's work with the next generation of researchers, in the hope that they would build upon this foundation and create something even better.

Condolences to Jan's family. Too bad he couldn't have seen this site before he passed, but as you said, he is still a part of it based on his contributions. RIP Jan Bullock.

If you nose around the Facebook site, you'll see some comments he made about trying to set up a collaborative family tree document/project.

I was surprised at how difficult it is to set up a large (over 1MB) document online that's capable of being edited by multiple users. Google Docs can't handle a file that size, and while it's possible to share something on Google Drive or OneDrive, it's not editable. A document in the Files section of a Facebook group can be edited, but only if you're using a computer (i.e., not the mobile app).

Jim, do you have any reservations about allowing anyone and everyone to edit your database? Much as I hate to say it, someone could alter it maliciously... or just incorrectly. Thoughts?