Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, known as Sally, grew up in Marathon County, Wisconsin. As an adult she spent a short time working in Washington D.C. before returning to Wausau to marry and raise a family. This series of posts takes us page by page through the photo album of her teen years and young adulthood. She was an active and vibrant gal. These photos show her doing things she could no long do when her mobility became limited in the following decades.
She collected photographs. Lots and lots of photographs. She took most of them and posed in many. This series gives us a glimpse of Sally’s young life, through her own pictures.
Girls and Relatives
The fifth page of Sally’s photo album contained shots with friends and lots of extended family.
On the bridge at midnight
Sally, far left, and two other women stand on a bridge, supposedly at midnight.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, far left. Others unidentified.
Location: Unknown. Probably Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Buddy and Tattine
The caption clearly meant something to Sally, but it probably hasn’t been deciphered correctly. Is the last word Tattine or Iattine? These children are yet to be identified.
UPDATE: 17 Feb 2021 – Catherine Broom has identified these kids. Buddy is Robert S. Quade and Tattine is Catherine Annabelle Quade. These were children of Cloa Celine Cournoyer and Robert Reinhard Rudolph Quade. We saw this family on page 4 of the album when Sally was on a trip to Laona, where this Quade family lived. Many thanks to Catherine for helping with this photo!!!
Pictured: Robert S. Quade and Catherine Annabelle Quade.
Location: Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1920-21.
Innocence
Sally poses with flowers outside the Town of Berllin, Marathon County, Wisconsin, home of her parents.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
Location: Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1920.
Otto Aschbrenner Family
This photo captured the Otto Aschbrenner family. It was probably taken in 1920 or 1921, before their youngest child was born. Otto was Sally’s paternal uncle.
Pictured: Back, from left, Marvin Gottlieb Henry Aschbrenner, Martha Radant Aschbrenner, Ervin Aschbrenner, and Otto Emil Valentine Aschbrenner. Front, from left, Esther Aschbrenner and Leone Aschbrenner.
Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1920-21.
Poeskes
This photo captures the Poeske family. Sally’s aunt Hilda, her husband Fritz, and their first two children, Margaret and Alfred. Alfred was born 16 April 1920 and was all bundled up in the picture.
Pictured: Fritz Herrmann Robert Poeske, Margaret Bertha Augusta Poeske, Alfred Walter Emil Poeske, and Hilda Amanda Alvina Aschbrenner Poeske.
Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin
Date: circa 1920.
Aunt Laura, Uncle Ed, and Elsie
Sally captured a photo of her host family. She lived with her Aunt Laura and Uncle Ed in Wausau so that she could attend high school there.
Pictured: Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner, Elsie Edna Aschbrenner, and Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner.
Location: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1920.
Sally and Evelyn
Sally holds her cousin Evelyn. We are guessing it is Evelyn anyway. She was born 24 September 1921 while Sally lived with the family.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner and Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner (presumed).
Location: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin
Date: 1921-22.
Friends?
Sally poses with three friends by a giant tree stump. Sally is the girl, second from left.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, second from left, and unidentified girls.
Location: Marathon, Wisconsin
Date: 1920-22.
Many thanks to Uncle Chuck Krueger for gifting Sally’s photo albums to me. I suppose I’m the only one who is obsessed enough with family history to spend hours and hours doing something with them. Of course, I thought I should find a way to share.
I didn’t join the Krueger family soon enough to meet Sally. She died 15 May 1983, just two weeks after I started dating her grandson (now my husband). I’m sad that I missed getting to know her. I’m glad that she left a legacy of photos that help me see a side of her that maybe even her own family didn’t get to see.
Many of the faces and places in the photographs are not labeled. If you can help identify someone or someplace, correct any mistake I may have made, or otherwise add to the story, please contact me, for example by submitting a comment. Thanks.
Who is Who?
Fred and Alice Aschbrenner family
Sally Aschbrenner, the subject of this series of posts, was the daughter of Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber and Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner. She had one brother named Freddy.
Three-generation pedigree chart
Uncle Otto Aschbrenner and family
Aunt Hilda Aschbrenner Poeske and family
Aunt Laura
Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner was one of Sally’s maternal aunts. She was married to Sally’s uncle Ed.
Edward Aschbrenner
Uncle Ed was one of Sally’s paternal uncles. He was married to Sally’s aunt Laura.
Elsie Aschbrenner
Sally and Elsie were double 1st cousins. Their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers.
Robert Reinhard Rudolph Quade Family
Robert Reinhard Rudolph Quade as a first cousin 1x removed of Sally. In other words, he was Sally’s dad’s first cousin.
Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner
Sally and Evelyn were double 1st cousins. Their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers.
The Aschbrenner Family
- Publication date: February 2022
- Pages: 728
- Formats:
- This books explores Aschbrenner family history. Friedrich August Aschbrenner had a son, named Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner, who immigrated to Marathon County, Wisconsin. This book traces thousands of descendants of the immigrant. Detailed biographies are provided for the families of our direct line from Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner through Frederick Wilhelm Aschbrenner and Frederick August Helmut Aschbrenner to Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
- Winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society 2023 Board of Curators Genealogy/Family History Book Award.
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