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, Home, and Service

The 17th page of Sally’s photo album featured a random collection of photos. Maybe this was a catch-all or miscellaneous page in the album. The photos were probably taken anywhere from 1923 to 1928.

Evelyn. Maybe?

Since Sally spent a lot of time with her Aunt Laura and Uncle Ed, even living with them for many years, a guess is that this is their youngest daughter, Evelyn. She was born 24 Sep 1921, so would be three-years old if this was taken in early 1925.

Pictured: Possibly Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner.

Location: Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1925.

In the hills

Who are these people? They are likely relatives of Sally. Where were they? Did Sally take this photo or did they send it to share their vacation or something? Right now, we just don’t know.

Update: The woman in the center, wearing the hat, is Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner Raduechel. She was a paternal half-aunt to Sally.

Pictured: Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner Raduechel (center, wearing hat), others are unidentified.

Location: Unknown.

Date: circa 1925.

Ervin driving the tractor

Sally’s cousin Ervin Aschbrenner is shown driving the tractor. The other boy may be his brother Marvin, but the face is too dark in the photo to tell. Ervin’s parents, Otto and Martha, farmed at Maine, Marathon County, Wisconsin. So, the photo was probably taken there.

Update: 25 Feb 2021. Jim sent this photo to a friend and found out a little bit more about this tractor. Thanks Jim! Jim wrote, “The man I sent the tractor pic to promptly got out his old tractor books or manuals and reported that McCormick Deering started making that one in 1922. It is a model 1530. It’s predecessor was a Titan, a ‘really crude looking machine.’ (His father owned one.) Its successor, years later, was named International Harvester (same company). Another friend, whose dad was in the implement business here, said rubber tires on tractors started to be a thing about 1930.“

Pictured: Ervin Aschbrenner, on tractor.

Location: Maine, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1925.

Country Road

Sally captured a view of a country road.

Location: probably Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1925.

Father and daughter

Is this Uncle Ed and cousin Elise?

Pictured: Unidentified.

Location: Probably Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1922-1928.

Fred and Alice Aschbrenner home

This is a photo of the Fred and Alice Aschbrenner home at 1215 8th Avenue, Wausau, Wisconsin. Wait? Didn’t they live on a farm in Town of Berlin? Yes. But they lived here for at least a few years.

On August 21, 1923, the Wausau Daily Record-Herald reported, “Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Bauman of Wausau recently rented the Fred Aschbrenner farm.”

It went on to say, “Mr. and Mrs. Fred Aschbrenner and family move to Wausau this week.”

So, it seems they packed up and moved to town.

In the 1925 City Directory of Wausau, Fred, Alice, Sally, and Freddy were all listed with this address. The directory reported that Sally was a stenographer for Curtis & Yale Co., and Freddy was a student.

Freddy is found as a sophomore in the 1924-25 and junior in the 1925-26 Wausau High School yearbooks, so that is where he was attending school. The 1923-24 yearbook doesn’t list freshmen by name, so we can’t be sure if he was attending school, but it is likely. It doesn’t seem he went back for his senior year though as he is not included in the 1926-27 yearbook.

According to newspaper articles in the gossip columns, Fred and Alice must have moved back to the Town of Berlin between mid-October, 1925 and December 30, 1925.

Pictured: Aschbrenner house.

Location: 1215 South Eighth Avenue, Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1925.

Civil Service Application Photo

Sally used this photo on her Civil Service application.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

Location: Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1928.

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

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:

[Fred Aschbrenner family move to Wausau] 21 Aug 1923, page 4 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272527325/ : accessed 27 Jul 2020). Wausau Daily Record-Herald, Wausau, Wisconsin.

The Aschbrenner Family