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.
Loved Ones and Friends
The seven page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos taken in and around 1922.
Fun in Wausau
The following two photos were taken at the Ed and Laura Aschbrenner house at 922 South 4th Avenue, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin. It seems that Sally and Aunt Laura had some fun posing for the camera. Sally is the one wearing a white shirt.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner and Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner.
Location: 922 South 4th Avenue, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
Brothers and Sisters, Husband and Wives
Fred and Ed married sisters Alice and Laura. The two couples are pictured together.
Pictured: From left, Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner, Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber Aschbrenner, Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner, and Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner.
Location: 922 South 4th Avenue, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
Otto’s kids and others
Three of the kids in this photo are wearing the same clothes that they wore in a photo that was on page five of Sally’s album. That means we can identify the three as Otto Aschbrenner’s kids, Marvin (middle boy in back row), Esther (second from left in front row), and Leone (second from right in front row). There is a good chance that the others are relatives too.
Pictured: Back row, from left, unidentified, Marvin Gottlieb Henry Aschbrenner, and unidentified. Front row, from left, unidentified, Esther Aschbrenner, unidentified, unidentified, Leone Aschbrenner, and unidentified.
Location: probably Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
Girls and Prams
The girl on the left is Sally’s cousin Elsie Edna Aschbrenner. The other girl is not identified. These girls played with their babies in their carriages in Wausau.
Pictured: Left, Elsie Edna Aschbrenner. Right, Unidentified.
Location: Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
Swimming
Elsie and her dad, Ed, enjoy splashing while wearing their swimming costumes.
Pictured: Elsie Edna Aschbrenner and Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner.
Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
Mostly ladies
The following two photos were unidentified. One of Sally’s sons added notes (long after Sally put her album together) indicating that the first photo was in Washington, D.C. and the second photo was at a picnic.
If the first photo truly was from Washington, D.C., it was out of order in the album. But it really can’t be from Sally’s time working in Washington. The clothing, hats, and hair styles are not right for the 1930s.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Unknown.
Date: Unknown.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
Babies
These cute babies were unidentified.
Pictured: Unidentified.
Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: circa 1922.
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
Elsie Aschbrenner
Sally and Elsie were double 1st cousins. Their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers.
Uncle Otto Aschbrenner and family
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