Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club

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Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club We are headquartered at historic Lambert Castle, Valley Road, Paterson, New Jersey.

The Genealogy Club was established in 1985 for the purpose of advancing genealogical study and discovering, obtaining, preserving and perpetuating whatever may relate to genealogy, biography and family history in Passaic County, NJ. Regular meetings are held on the the second Saturday of each month, September through May. Visitors are always welcome to attend our monthly meetings as guests; however membership in the PCHS automatically entitles you to membership in the Genealogy Club. Coupled with our monthly meetings, you will receive "The Castle Genie," the quarterly newsletter of the Genealogy Club and "The Historic County," the Society's newsletter. Membership also entitles you free Museum admission, and the opportunity to use the Library's abundant historical resource material at no additional charge. You will also receive advance notice of any upcoming Historical Society functions and events.

09/29/2026

Passaic County Historical Society
Genealogy Club

Meeting – October 10, 2026, 10:00 am

Lambert Castle -- Carriage House Visitor Center

3 Valley Rd Paterson, NJ 07503

*** Special Note from President Mike Cervine ***

Many of us, me included, have mobility issues and traversing from the Lamber Castle parking area to the Carriage House presents challenges. There is no parking, handicapped or otherwise, at the Carriage House. Several of our members have volunteered to transport members and/or guests so needing to and from the parking area to the Carriage House. For those of us needing this assistance please wait at the top of the parking lot until a volunteer is available. I suggest you arrive at least 15 -20 minutes before the meeting so there is sufficient time to make the trips and still allow our volunteers to get to the meeting on time.

My sincere thanks to all those volunteering to help us out; we are very grateful.

Mike

Program: - AI for Genealogy - Your Research Partner

Ever wished you had a brilliant research assistant available 24/7 who never gets tired of digging through old records? In this 45-minute session, we'll show you how to put AI to work for your family history research — from setting up Projects and Memory so the AI actually remembers your family details, to writing better prompts that get you more useful answers. We'll also explore personalization tricks, and when to unleash AI's deep thinking mode to tackle those stubborn brick walls. This session will not discuss agents or vibe coding.

Presented by: Fred Voss

Fred Voss Bio:

Fred Voss is a professional genealogist, researcher, and educator. He has been doing personal genealogy for over 30 years and is a Trustee and Education Chair for the Genealogical Society of Bergen County. His areas of interest are Germany, Switzerland, and New Hampshire, with special interest in DNA, Immigration, Naturalization, and Artificial Intelligence. Mr. Voss is a certificate holder of the Boston University Genealogical Research Certification program (OL13). He is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the International Society of Genetic Genealogists as well as various regional societies.

09/09/2026

Passaic County Historical Society
Genealogy Club
Meeting – Sep 12, 2026 at 10:00 am

Location: The Carriage House (Visitor’s Center) behind Lambert Castle

Park where we used to park for the Castle and walk down to the carriage house. If you need to drop someone off, you can drive down and turn back. Unfortunately, there is no parking now at the Carriage House.

Presenter: Lisa Ilowite

Researching collateral relatives can unearth family secrets, sometimes ones "hidden in plain sight".
Lisa takes us through her research discovering another black sheep in her genealogy.

All welcome. Refreshments will be served.

After our meeting, there are two talks being held by Passaic County.

1 pm Gianfranco Archimede will give a talk about the display in Lambert Castle and Paterson’s Industrial past.

2 pm Franklin Roosevelt visits Lambert Castle (Lecture in the Carriage House).

05/08/2026

Passaic County Historical Society
Genealogy Club
Meeting – May 9, 2026, 10:00am
Clifton Main Library, Room B
Piaget Ave. Clifton, N.J.

Program: “From Manuscripts to Ephermera-Navigating vast collections of NJ State Archives, Libraries & University.”

This presentation aims to provide an overview of the vast collections of historical documents, artifacts, and ephemera that are available in collections around the state. It will highlight the importance of these collections and offer practical guidance on how to navigate and access these resources. Attendees will learn about the types of materials that can be found in these collections, including rare books, photographs, maps, and manuscripts.
They will also discover how these materials can be used to gain insight into various aspects of New Jersey's history, such as the state's role in the American Revolution, the growth of industry and commerce in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the diverse experiences of its residents over time.

Presented by: Michelle Chubenko

: Michelle Tucker Chubenko, AG®, AGLTM is accredited in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) and specializes in the Mid-Atlantic region and Eastern European research. She serves as a Board Member for the Foundation for East European Family History Studies (FEEFHS), a co-coordinator for the “Nashi Predky/Our Ancestors” Family History Group at the Ukrainian History and Education Center (Somerset, New Jersey), and in 2023, coordinated the institute course Researching Your Ancestry in the Crownland of Galicia, Austria-Hungary.
Since 2021, she has hosted a monthly Q&A Zoom session Have Questions? Get Answers for Research in Galicia and
recently authored a digital publication for genealogists— Workbook for Research in Galicia, Austria-Hungary.
Michelle is a 2025 Continuing Research Grant awardee from the American Society of Genealogists for her project which will focus on researching Austrian Land Cadastre record collections to create a new publication—A Genealogist's Guide to Austrian Land Cadastres for the Crownland of Galicia.

04/09/2026

Meeting – Apr. 11, 2026, 10:00am

Clifton Main Library, Room B
Piaget Ave. Clifton, N.J.

Program: Italian Genealogy Workshop
Presented by: Randi Koenig

Randi will explain how to research various historical records of Italian families in this workshop. Learn how to discover your family's town of origin and record research into Italy.

Randi Koenig, Principal of Legacy Genealogy Services, is a forensic genealogist with over 15 years professional experience, based in Hudson County, NJ. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Hudson County Genealogical & Historical Society and has been associated with the National Genealogical Society, the Italian Genealogy Society , the NJ Genealogical Society, and the Ulster County historical Foundation (Ireland).

Her work outside the USA spans Europe, South America, Asia, Mexico and the Caribbean. She has provided expert witness testimony throughout NYC and NJ for Surrogate's Court kinship proceedings.

03/11/2026

Passaic County Historical Society
Genealogy Club
Meeting – Mar. 14, 2026 10:00am
Clifton Main Library, Room B
Piaget Ave. Clifton, N.J.

Program : Genealogical Timelines for Organization, Analysis and Problem Solving

In researching our family, we gather extensive amounts of records and information to be compiled. Timelines are a tool that allows us to organize our data, and to visually identify patterns, gaps, themes, and relationships. This program will provide examples of genealogical timelines (migration patterns, research gaps, specific record type, historical perspective, etc.) as well as suggestions on creating timelines in Microsoft Word and Excel.

Presented by: Laura Cubbage-Draper

Laura Cubbage-Draper, MS, CG® is a Board-Certified professional genealogist in central New Jersey. Recently certified, she has been engaged in genealogical research for over 25 years and has been the owner of LCD Genealogy Services for five years. A New Jersey native with deep Pennsylvania and German roots, she is a genealogical researcher, lecturer, and volunteer.

02/03/2026

PLEASE NOTE THE TIME IS 10 AM AND NOT 10:30
REFRESHMENTS WILL BE SERVED
BRING YOUR GENEALOGY QUESTIONS!

Passaic County Historical Society
Genealogy Club

Meeting – Feb. 14, 2026 10:00am

Clifton Main Library, Room B
Piaget Ave. Clifton, N.J

Program : “Ask the Questions-Informal Workshop”

Presented by: Everyone

Are you just beginning, need to organize your files, find different types of records? Learn to utilize genealogy sites. Our seasoned genealogists to assist you with your questions.

01/09/2026

Meeting – Jan. 10, 2026 10:30am

Clifton Main Library
292 Piaget Ave. Clifton, N.J.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026 TO ALL MEMBERS

Program : Annual Members Exchange
Presented by: Members

Our January meeting is always for our members to share their successes, brick walls and family anecdotes. It’s a great opportunity to learn how others have applied some of the information we’ve been exposed to with our professional speakers and also to learn some more about how our members are using their family information.

It’s also a great time to introduce guests to the Genie Club and what we are all about; so invite some friends.

01/03/2026

Passaic County Historical Society
Genealogy Club
Meeting – Jan. 10, 2026 10:30am
Clifton Main
292 Piaget Ave. Clifton, N.J.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2026 TO ALL MEMBERS

Program : Annual Members Exchange

Presented by: Members

Our January meeting is always for our members to share their successes, brick walls and family anecdotes. It’s a great opportunity to learn how others have applied some of the information we’ve been exposed to with our professional speakers and also to learn some more about how our members are using their family information.
It’s also a great time to introduce guests to the Genie Club and what we are all about; so invite some friends.

Please rsvp (see flyer) by Nov. 30.
11/29/2025

Please rsvp (see flyer) by Nov. 30.

11/05/2025

Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club

Meeting – Nov. 8, 2025 10:30am

Clifton Allwood Branch Library
Lyall Rd. Clifton, N.J.

Program : Finding your German Ancestors
Presented by: Peter Lubrecht

Bio :“PETER T. LUBRECHT, PhD, is an author, German-American historian, and adjunct professor of writing at Berkeley College, New Jersey. He is a retired theatre director, and has published: The Butterfly Boys in the Civil War ; Germans in New Jersey; Liebe Kück-A German Soldier's Story of the Great War and New Jersey Hessians Truth and Lore . In 2018, he won the Steuben Society of America's Eric Hartleb Memorial Lecture Award in 2018 for excellence in the field of German-American Studies.”

Address

3 Valley Road
Paterson, NJ
07503

Telephone

+19732470085

Website

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