One Family’s Journey of Discovering 1,600 Italian Ancestors

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By Jackie Asher, Church News

Melanie DeVos Molinaro and her husband, of Atlanta, Georgia, had been working on a line of Italian ancestors in his family history for some time without much progress. The couple got excited in 2012 when other FamilySearch users sent them a note to say they were looking for information on the same relatives and promised to share any information they found.

And then — radio silence for five years.

The Molinaros didn’t hear anything from the other FamilySearch users until 2018, when the strangers sent them another note saying they had just returned from Italy and had some records to send the Molinaros. Melanie Molinaro said they happily accepted the offer, expecting information on three or four ancestors.

What happened next was the start of what the Molinaros now refer to as their “family history miracle.”

The other FamilySearch users sent them 21 pages of names, dates and locations — enough information to add 1,600 people to their family tree.

“We laughed, we cried, we were completely thrilled, we were totally overwhelmed,” said Melanie Molinaro. “It was staggering on every level. We were immensely grateful.”

Read this related Church News story ‘The faith of a few’: Descendants of early Italian pioneers share lessons learned from their ancestors

She added that they also felt the responsibility of helping these 1,600 people make covenants in the temple, as the people who sent them the records are not members of the Church.

For the Molinaros, the last eight years have been a journey of taking those names to the house of the Lord to perform their ordinances by proxy.

“These ancestors are real,” Melanie Molinaro said. “They’re not just names on a page. They’re not just somebody in a book. They are real people who are invested completely in having their work done and assisting us in making it happen. And although I don’t remember meeting any of these people, I love them in a way that was not really possible to grasp before I started doing this work for them.”

200 Ordinances in One Night

Taking those 1,600 names to the temple has been a road full of tender mercies from God, according to Melanie Molinaro.

“Gathering Israel is Heavenly Father’s work, and He and Jesus Christ are intimately involved in making that happen,” she said. “They help us when we make any efforts at all.”

One such tender mercy was meeting a sealer at the Atlanta Georgia Temple — the Molinaros’ closest temple — who speaks Italian. In November 2025, he performed sealing ordinances in the Italian language for 200 of the Molinaros’ ancestors in one night.

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Melanie Molinaro said hearing the ordinances performed in the deceased individuals’ native language was “indescribable.”

Ward members and friends attended the sealing session that night to help complete the 200 ordinances, and Molinaro said other family members around the country are helping complete even more ordinances.

“It’s been an amazing and humbling experience to have such an outpouring of support and love and faith from family, friends, ward members, youth groups, missionaries,” she said.

Tethered to God in His work

Molinaro said this unfolding experience has taught her about God’s goodness and love for His children and that she feels “tethered” to Him in this experience.

“I feel like I understand Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ on a deeper level — with miles to go of course,” she said.

She recalled a time when she wondered aloud how it was possible that they had received so many names. Michael Molinaro had replied, “Because [God] knew we would do it.”

Added Melanie Molinaro, “And so I feel like this definitely is a trust kind of thing. I want Him to know He can trust me to do what He needs me to do.”

Reaping ‘Unfathomable’ Blessings

Molinaro hopes that sharing her story will inspire others to dig into their own family history, though she admitted not everyone will get 1,600 names handed to them.

“Everybody’s blessings from doing family history is gonna look different,” she said. “And that’s good, because we’re all individual, and Heavenly Father knows what we can do, when we can do it and how He needs us to do it.”

She said the blessings waiting for those who get to know their ancestors are “unfathomable.”

“[Genealogy] is about the past, but it’s very vibrant and vital for living now. And I think that connection to these people brings us a depth to our life and to our family that helps us see God’s greater picture and plan for all His children.”