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.

Farm and Falls

The thirteenth page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos taken in and around 1923-26.

Cement work

Sally captured a photo of men doing some cement work. While the photo isn’t labeled, the guys on the far right are Sally’s uncles Edward and Frank Aschbrenner. The young guy, on the far left, might possibly be Sally’s brother, Freddy.

Pictured: From left, Frederick Carl Aschbrenner (possibly), Unknown, Unknown, Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner, and Frank George Wilhelm Bernard Aschbrenner.

Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1922-23.

Hauling milk

Sally’s brother, Freddy, was captured in this photo on his way to haul milk to the factory.

Pictured: Frederick Carl Aschbrenner.

Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1922-23.

Where’s Freddy?

Can you find Freddy in this photo? He and his sister pose on a post for something. But, for what? Maybe an electrical tower? Please comment with your guesses!

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner and Frederick Carl Aschbrenner.

Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1922-26.

H. Aschbrenner farm – Stratford

This photo features an Aschbrenner girl in front of a barn at the Henry Aschbrenner farm in Stratford. Men sit in the background leaning against the silo. This farm was the farm that Fred and Bertha Aschbrenner, Sally’s grandparents, had built in 1902 when they left the original homestead. When Fred retired, his son Henry took over this Stratford farm.

If this girl was one of Henry’s children, she was likely Dorothy Frieda Aschbrenner who was born in May 1920.

Pictured: Henry Herman Heinrich Aschbrenner farm.

Location: Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1924-26.

Who and What?

This photograph has been an annoyance. It is a great photo. But… The faces of the adults in the front look familiar but have not been positively identified. The vehicle seems to be some type of road equipment, but what is it? Help!

While the people can’t all be identified, there is some reasoning that can be shared to perhaps help eventually get them identified…

Later in the album, on page thirty-one, the woman seen in the far right of the front row appeared again. Based on information surrounding that photo, she is probably Sally’s paternal half-aunt, Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner Raduechel. Her daughter Mable is probably the lady second from right in the back.

Who are the others? Amelia Emilie became a widow at the end of 1911, so the man is not her husband. She did have two children besides Mable, namely Adelia and Herbert, so perhaps one of the other ladies was Adelia. A wild guess is that maybe Adelia is the gal in front with her hands on the steering wheel. That is a wild, wild guess.

Sally had only two other paternal aunts living during this time period, Laura and Hilda. Maybe the couple in the left, front, of the photo were Laura and Herman Radant or Hilda and Fritz Poeske?

Laura and Herman had five children who were born between 1922 and 1909. If they are the couple, then the little guy she is holding would be Harold F. Radant who was born 14 June 1922. Their son Raymond Herman, who was born in 1912 would then be one of the other boys shown.

Only three of Hilda and Fritz’s children were born by 1926. Margaret was born in 1917, Alfred in 1920, and Wilbur in 1922. The lady in the far back right looks a lot like the woman holding the baby in the front. Maybe they were sisters. Maybe they were Hilda and Laura?

If anyone can identify anyone in the photo, please comment!

Pictured: Mostly unidentified. Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner Raduechel is front, far right. Mable A. Raduechel is second from right in back row — probably.

Location: Probably Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1924-26.

Maybe Grandfather Falls? Or not.

Sally captured water racing over a dam.

A guess was that this photo was taken at Grandfather Falls. However, it wasn’t until 1938 that the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation started a project to use the entire 90-foot drop of the river for power. The dam wasn’t built there yet when this photograph was taken.

So, where was this?

Pictured: Water rushing over a dam.

Location: Unknown.

Date: circa 1924-26.

Relaxing

Sally (second from right) and four unidentified ladies relax along the river. Based on guessing in a previous photo, the woman far right may be Mable A. Raduechel.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, second from right, and four unidentified women. Mable A. Raduechel may be on the far right.

Location: Unknown.

Date: circa 1924-26.

Picnicking

Sally (front and center) picnics with a group.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, front, center with white dress. Others unidentified.

Location: Unknown.

Date: circa 1924-26.

A toddler and her doll

This unidentified little girl is playing with her doll. Her house number is 925 but we don’t know for sure which street. Sally lived with her aunt and uncle at 922 4th Avenue South, so it’s possible that this was a little girl living across the street. What we can see of the house matches what can be seen in Google Street View in a modern photo, but a lot of houses have a similar look.

According to city directory and census records, the Buntrock family lived at 925 4th Ave. during this time. William and Augusta lived there as early as 1916 and Augusta continued to live there after the death of William in August 1922.

In the 1922 City Directory, William and Augusta’s children lived with their parents at 925 4th. Arthur Buntrock, who was a laborer at Curtis & Yale and his wife, Clara, lived there. Ervin, a driver at F.G. Schaefer, Iva M., a bookkeeper at Wisconsin Auto Supply Company, and Lillian, a clerk at F.B. Schaefer, were also living there. The youngest child, Florence, was too young to be listed in the directory, but lived with her parents. That was a lot of Buntrocks living together under one roof.

So, could this child be a grandchild of Augusta and William?

It wasn’t Iva’s child. By 1930, she had married Otto Wallman and moved to New Jersey, where she lived with their one-year-old child.

It wasn’t the child of Ervin or Florence as they were both single and living with their mother in 1930.

Arthur is a bit of a mystery. In the 1922 City Directory, he was shown having a wife named Clara. But in the next directory in 1927, he was single. He was still a driver living at 925 4th Avenue South, but then worked for Max Heige. In the 1930 census, he was living across town and was still single. It could be that there was an error in the 1922 directory and that Clara belonged to a different Buntrock. A man named August Buntrock had a wife named Clara in 1927. Arthur’s obituary, in 1927, gave no indication that he had ever been married or had children.

It wasn’t Norman’s child. By 1930, he had married and had a child. But that child was born in 1930 and this photo was taken long before that.

It might have been Lillian’s oldest child, Katherine, who was born around 1926. In the 1925 City Directory, she and her husband, Arthur Dippman were shown living at 935 4th Avenue South, which would be just a few houses down from her mother. In 1927, they were at 919 4th Avenue South, just a few houses in the other direction of her mother.

But that would mean this photo was taken around 1927 rather than 1922-23. That could be.

Or, more likely, this child didn’t have any close relation to the Buntrock family.

Or the 935 didn’t belong to 4th Avenue South, but instead to some other street.

A very long discussion leading back to the description: This unidentified little girl is playing with her doll.

Pictured: Unknown.

Location: 935 ________, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1922-26.

Evelyn and Friend

Sally’s cousin, Evelyn Aschbrenner, and a friend pose outside of the Ed and Laura Aschbrenner home, where Sally lived. Based on guesses taken on other photos in the album, the friend quite possibly was Evelyn’s cousin, Norma Aschbrenner, the daughter of Henry.

Pictured: Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner (left) and Norma Grace Aschbrenner (possibly).

Location: 922 4th Avenue South, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1925-26.

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

Laura Fehlhaber and Edward Aschbrenner

Uncle Ed was one of Sally’s paternal uncles. He was married to Sally’s maternal aunt Laura.

Sarah Schroeder and Frank Aschbrenner

Frank George Wilhelm Bernard Aschbrenner was one of Sally’s paternal ancestors. He was married to Sarah Schroeder.

Emma Lillge and Henry Aschbrenner

Henry Aschbrenner was one of Sally’s paternal uncles.

Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner

Sally and Evelyn were double 1st cousins. Their mothers were sisters and their fathers were brothers.

Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner and Carl J. Raduechel

Amelia was one of Sally’s paternal half-aunts. She was a half-sister to Sally’s dad, Frederick.

Sally’s grandfather Frederick Wilhelm Aschbrenner was a widower when he married Sally’s grandmother Bertha. Frederick Wilhelm and his first wife had two daughters. Amelia Emilie was one of those daughters.

Amelia Emilie lost her husband, Carl J. Raduechel, to a horrific accident when she was only 43-years old. 48-year-old Carl loaned a rifle to his neighbor. When it was returned, Carl was going to clean it. He didn’t know it was loaded. The Wausau Daily Record-Herald reported,

It was presumed that Mr. Raduechel had started to clean the gun, for all the tools, etc., were found on the kitchen table. From the position of the gun and the body it was evident that in withdrawing the cleaning rod from the gun it slipped, the hammer striking either the stove or the floor and the weapon discharged. The ball entered his breast just above the heart and death came within a few seconds.

– Wausau Daily Record-Herald, Tuesday, December 12. 1911.

Selected sources:

“Grandfather Falls,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_Falls : accessed 05 Jul 2020)/

Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

“Pneumonia Claims Wausau Resident,” Wausau Daily Herald (Wausau, Wisconsin) 19 Aug 1922, page 3 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272511758/ : accessed 04 Jul 2020).

“Arthur H. Buntrock,” Wausau Daily Herald (Wausau, Wisconsin) 20 Oct 1972, page 8 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272902689/ : accessed 04 Jul 2020).

The Aschbrenner Family