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.

Ervin Anklam Wedding plus

The 25th page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos taken on 22 May 1926 at Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin. On that day, Ervin Edward Emil Anklam, one of Sally’s maternal first cousins, married Florence Mary Dern.

A few other miscellaneous photos fit on the page as well.

Florence Dern and Ervin Anklam Wedding

The 3 pm wedding was performed by the pastor from the Emmanuel Lutheran church in Rib Falls. Erna Anklam, sister of the groom, was maid of honor. Delma Rux, a cousin of the bride was a bridesmaid. Ervin’s brother William and Florences’s brother Kermit, were groomsmen.

Sally played the wedding march.

After the wedding, a supper was served to immediate relatives at the home of the bride’s parents.

In the evening, a wedding dance was held at the Rib Falls pavilion.

Sally captured some moments from the festive day.

Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Anklam

This candid photo shows the former Florence Dern with her husband Ervin Anklam. The bride was wearing a beautiful dress of white satin-faced canton crepe trimmed with rhinestones, and her veil of tulle caught in a cap effect with rhinestones and orange blossoms. She carried a bouquet of roses, swansonias and lilies of the valley in a shower effect.

Pictured: Florence Mary Dern, Ervin Edward Emil Anklam, and an unidentified onlooker.

Location: Emil Dern home, Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 22 May 1926.

Best man and his future bride

The Wausau Daily Record-Herald reported that William Anklam, the groom’s brother, was best man. This guy with the flower in his lapel is William?

Thanks to Lou Ann (Buttke) and Don Zamzow, the woman has been identified as William’s future wife, Marie R. Berlik. This couple married a year later, on 27 December 1927.

Pictured: Marie R. Berlik and William Otto Anklam.

Location: Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 22 May 1926.

Best Man and Pal

Best Man Bill Anklam made it into another photo. Who is the other guy? He must be Kermit Emil Dern, brother of the bride and groomsman.

Pictured: Kermit Emil Dern and William Otto Anklam.

Location: Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 22 May 1926.

Cousins?

One of these girls is Elsie Aschbrenner, daughter of Laura who was the sister of the mother-of-the groom, Emma Wilhelmine Maria Fehlhaber.

Were the other girls relatives too?

There were nine living female first cousins at the time of the wedding, namely, Clara Anklam, Selma “Sally” Aschbrenner, Leona Beilke, Erna Anklam (maid of honor), Margaret Fehlhaber, Margaret Anklam, Elsie Aschbrenner, Esther Anklam, and Evelyn Aschbrenner.

According to the newspaper article, Erna, the maid of honor, was dressed in peach crepe de chine. It doesn’t seem that any of these gals is dressed for maid of honor duties.

Evelyn was only about five years-old at the time, so she is not in this picture.

Esther was ten.

Elsie, age 13, is the girl second from left.

Margaret Anklam was 15.

Leona Beilke was 21.

Sally was 22-years old (she’s not in this picture).

Clara Anklam was 22.

The Anklam girls were sisters of the groom.

Pictured: Elsie Edna Aschbrenner, second from left, and unidentified girls.

Location: Emil Dern home, Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 22 May 1926.

Cigars

Sally and two unidentified women enjoy cigars at that Ervin Anklam wedding. Cigars? Yes, cigars. It is quite possible that this photo was just staged for fun. We see no smoke and the cigars do not appear to be lit. But they were surely having fun.

It is possible that the girls with Sally were cousins.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, far right, and two unidentified women.

Location: Emil Dern home, Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 22 May 1926.

Plus

The remaining three photos were probably not taken at the wedding. But, there was room on the album page, so there they landed.

Boy

The original photo snippet pasted in Sally’s album is only .25″ x .5″ big. It appears that this boy was cut out of a much larger photo. We don’t know who he is or why Sally took the time to cut him out and save him.

Pictured: Unidentified.

Location: Wisconsin.

Date: Unknown.

Office

This photo was titled, “Office.” Perhaps this is how Sally dressed for a typical day at work at Curtis & Yale.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

Location: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1926.

The girls

This photo captures several of Sally’s friends. We see Elizabeth Lemke in the photo, third from left. The other ladies are unidentified. They were probably friends from work and/or from the YWCA Live Y’Ers.

Pictured: Elizabeth Louise Lemke, third from left, and unidentified women.

Location: Likely somewhere near Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1926.

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.

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

Ervin Edward Emil Anklam

Ervin Edward Emil Anklam was one of Sally’s maternal first cousins.

Emma Wilhelmina Maria Fehlhaber and Otto Carl Edward Anklam

Emma was one of Sally’s maternal aunts. She was married to Otto Anklam. They had nine children who were Sally’s first cousins.

Elsie Aschbrenner

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

Elizabeth Louise Lemke

Elizabeth Louise Lemke was born on 12 Dec 1904 in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin, to Anna Kasten and August W. Lemke. She was a graduate of Wausau High School and worked at the American National Bank before marrying.

When she was 25, she married Harold John Reinhart, son of John Reinhart and Bertha Graade, on 30 Jul 1930, in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Harold and Elizabeth had one daughter named Mary.

In 1940, she and her husband lived in Atlanta, De Kalb, Georgia. He worked for the West Bend Aluminum Company in West Bend, Washington, Wisconsin, but it seems he was on assignment in Atlanta.

They lived most of their married life in Wisconsin.

Elizabeth died on 10 Oct 1975 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Selected Sources:

[Dern-Anklam wedding] 22 May 1926, page 5 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272533488/ : accessed 15 May 2020), Wausau Daily Herald, Wausau, Wisconsin, online images

“Ervin Anklam,” 14 Jul 1961, page 4 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272887204/ : accessed 16 Aug 2020), Wausau Daily Herald, Wausau, Wisconsin, online images.

The Aschbrenner Family