Golden Egg Genealogists (GEGs) are marked by an ambition to excel in the pursuit of their ancestry. They are perpetually on their way to a better self, knowing that the treasures of genealogy offer themselves to the worthy. You can recognize yourself as a GEG in the making when the following becomes true:
. . . you find your standards getting ever higher
GEGs hold themselves accountable to the best practices and knowledge available, leaving behind the beginner’s compulsion to race haphazardly up a family tree. As they grow, quality becomes far more valuable than quantity.
. . . you can’t just call it a “hobby”
While most GEGs have no ambition to be professional genealogists, as they grow in their knowledge and commitment to this work, they become increasingly uncomfortable with labeling their efforts a “hobby.” It is an avocation, a mission, something that requires a long and true commitment.
. . . you care about the legacy you leave
GEGs recognize that their work is laying a foundation others will build upon, for better or for worse — and they will not leave a faulty foundation. Further, they recognize the responsibility they have to the ancestors they study, seeking to honor each life with the most accurate and thorough record possible .
. . . you want the best tools available
GEGs recognize how vast their work will grow and seek the most efficient and effective methods to gather, store, track, disseminate, and preserve their findings — even if they must abandon the old and comfortable for ever-improving technologies, systems, and practices.
. . . you never stop learning
GEGs seek excellent teachers, ever expanding their knowledge and skills. They grow with the changing genealogical environment. They recognize that genealogy without historical context is bones without flesh, and they cultivate historical understanding as the requisite partner of genealogy. They read, they join societies, they go to seminars, and they never presume to know it all.
. . . you have an honorable code of ethics
GEGs always credit their sources, properly citing them for the benefit of all who will follow in their research tracks. They honor trademarks and copyrights. They respect the privacy of those who give them information, never sharing publicly what they have not been given permission to disclose.
. . . you are happy to give back.
GEGs recognize the countless ways that others have sacrificed to give them the tools, resources, and knowledge they enjoy. GEGs give a portion back — mentoring, teaching, transcribing records, donating to worthy ventures — doing their share to promote the cultivation of new generations of GEGs.
Few of us are fully there; the GEG is an ideal, after all. But a growing number are feeling the GEG within them emerging. The Golden Egg Genealogist website has been created to cultivate this grand emergence. Join us on this quest.
