Background:
Before I married my husband, I started working in the public library in my hometown. While working there, I had the very great pleasure of working with Mrs. Renee Hague. She is hilarious, chic, and super knowledgeable about her work. I have always found genealogy fascinating (I blame my mother lol) and seeing the passion that Mrs. Hague and her counterpart, Mrs. Sherry, have for this subject is amazing and mind-blowing. I wanted to interview Mrs. Hague because she's someone you just can't help but love and she knows her stuff. I was also inspired by the t.v. show "Who Do You Think You Are?" which helps celebrities trace their ancestry using ancestry.com plus professionals in the field all over the world. After watching this show, I was very excited about interviewing someone in the genealogy field and immediately thought of Renee Hague- who always dresses very fashionably.
The Interview!
1. Tell me 6 things about yourself.
- I love
my work and continue to learn new things each day.
- I’m happily
married To Doug Hague( 35 years) and
have three grown children who are my pride and joy. Joseph is a composer living in Oakland, CA;
Laura teaches Special Education in Daphne, AL; and Nelson lives in Quito,
Ecuador and is starting a Wellness business (certified massage therapist) there
and also has a certification for teaching English as a second language.
- I play flute,
recorder, ukulele, Indian drums and rattles,
and collect instruments.
- My degrees are
in English and Combined arts therapy and I’ve found a way to apply my college
education to my job at the library.
- India, Greece and Israel are among my favorite countries
and I’ve traveled there!
- My favorite poets are Rumi and William Blake and I have a
file on my computer with my favorite 100
books.
2. How long have you been working in genealogy?
I’ve been working in genealogy and local history
for 13 years, and my grandmother, Archie
Gautier, started training me for the job
when I was a child. She worked as
curator of the “Old Spanish Fort” for over 30 years and I help take care of her
archive collection today!
3. What is the most interesting thing about genealogy?
The interconnectedness of people and things
amazes me. I get goosebumps at work on a daily basis because of random coincidences
(or are they?).
4. What's the hardest part about genealogy?
For me, the hardest part of genealogy is citing
sources, because I get so excited about finding things and forget to write
down the source in my eagerness to find
the next thing! Citing sources has to be
one of the most important tasks of a genealogist. (Check out Richard Lackey’s
book on the subject).
5. Have you traced back your genealogy? Are you related to anyone famous or interesting?
Yes, I’m working on 75 family lines and I find most of my
ancestors are interesting. My Indian
ancestors are who I am most interested in now. While they are usually the
hardest to document, I’m lucky to have found some of them in the records. A couple of them married Frenchmen who
helped found the Gulf Coast.
6. For beginners, what are some tips for tracing your genealogy?
Do your homework before you begin your research
online or at the library. Interview your
family and get the names of people and the places where they were, as well as
dates. Write all of this down in an
organized fashion (family group sheets, etc…) and be sure and cite your
sources. When you begin in earnest, it
will be easier to find the documents if you’ve done your homework.
7. Can you tell me about genealogy. General or specific things.
When I first started working in this
department, I found it creepy to be
looking up obituaries on a daily basis.
Sherry Owens, one of my first
teachers, taught me to look at the obit as a life span of a person (as opposed
to a death). That clicked and I’ve been
hooked ever since.
Once you have dates, names and places….it’s time to start
putting it all into a historical context!
Maps become fascinating and begin to look like art! History comes alive and is no longer boring.
It helps me to read and write historical fiction when
researching. I can remember all the
facts if I’m interested in the story!
Otherwise it’s too dry.
8. The t.v. show, 'Who Do You Think You Are' shows
celebrities tracing their genealogy. How long can it take to trace a
family lineage?
People spend their entire lives researching
their families. We have people waltz in
the library thinking they can find everything in a day with a few clicks on the
computer. That is not true!! “Who do You think You Are” is a fascinating
program, but fosters the myth that genealogy is easy.
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