Are you a FamilySearch user? If so, have you ever merged two profiles? It can be a powerful way to clean up duplicate entries and connect scattered family branches. Thanks to a few obituary clippings saved by my grandmother, I recently had the opportunity to do just that—merging profiles for both Wilfred Mentzer and his wife, Clara Beine.
The obituary for Wilfred Mentzer revealed that he was born in Yates Center, Kansas, and listed several siblings:
Brother, Harley Mentzer of Yates Center, Kansas; sisters, Mrs. Pearl Peterson of Glendale, Mrs. Mildred Van Valkenberg of Whittier, Mrs. Hazel Herold and Mrs. Cecil Beine, both of Yates Center, and Mrs. Aleta Tolle of Nebraska.
These siblings clearly placed Wilfred in the family of John Mentzer and Anna Wells. On FamilySearch, that couple had a son listed as Fred Mentzer (1903–1942) with census records from 1910 and 1920 in Woodson County, Kansas. Separately, there was also a profile for Wilfred Mentzer, married to Clara Beine, but with no parents or early sources attached.
Using the obituary evidence, I merged the Fred Mentzer profile into the Wilfred Mentzer profile to create a more complete family record.
On the Beine side, I worked through the obituary for Walter J. Beine, which stated he was born in 1901 in Yates Center and named several siblings:
Two brothers, Emil Beine of Yates Center and Henry Beine of Hatton, N.D.; one sister, Clara Mentzer of Rosemead, Calif.
On FamilySearch, the family of Friedrich August Beine included a Clara Beine (1909–Deceased), but her profile had no spouse listed and only one source attached—an obituary for her brother, Henry Beine, which also mentioned:
Sister, Clara Mentzer, Rosemead, Calif.
These two obituaries—Walter’s and Henry’s—provided solid evidence that Clara Beine, daughter of Friedrich August Beine, was the same person as Clara Mentzer, wife of Wilfred. I merged the profiles and added Walter Beine’s obituary as a source, including an image upload.
Thanks to my grandmother’s obituary clippings, I was able to reconnect these Mentzer–Beine families to their Yates Center, Kansas roots—bridging a gap between California records and Kansas heritage.