Looking around the room full of their second cousins in Valpergo, Italy, in 2014, sisters Dee Pollinger, Washington, and Jean Woll, Union, could see some family resemblances, striking resemblances in at least two cases.

But they hadn’t needed to see any likenesses. The sisters already knew they had found what they were looking for — family. They had brought 10 pages or so of research from a genealogy binder Dee had spent six years compiling.