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.
Aschbrenners and Water
The 26th page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos of the Aschbrenner family and then view shots including bodies of water.
Ed and Laura Aschbrenner family
The Ed and Laura Aschbrenner family pose in front of a car on the Fred Aschbrenner farm.
Pictured: Laura Fehlhaber, Elsie Edna Aschbrenner, Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner, and Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner.
Location: Highway A, Town of Berlin, Marathon County, Wisconsin
Date: 1926.
Fred and Alice Aschbrenner family
Sally and her immediate family were captured in front of the front porch on their farm.
Pictured: Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber, Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner, and Frederick Carl Aschbrenner.
Location: Highway A, Town of Berlin, Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: 1926.
Neighbor kids
While these photos were not labeled, an educated guess tells us that the little blond girl in the pictures was Sally’s cousin, Evelyn. The other children are presumably kids from the Wausau neighborhood.
When her parents moved back to their Town of Berlin farm, Sally again lived with her Aunt Laura and Uncle Ed at 922 South Fourth Avenue in Wausau. So, she would have been spending quite a bit of time with her niece Evelyn (and her big sister Elsie).
Pictured: Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner and unidentified friends.
Location: Probably near 922 South Fourth Avenue, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
Date: 1926.
Nice Doggy
Sally playing with a family dog.
Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.
Location: Highway A, Town of Berlin, Marathon County, Wisconsin.
Date: 1926.
On the rocks
Sally’s aunts and uncle sit on the rocks along a lake shore. We know that the lady in front is Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner. It’s likely that the other two are Sally’s Aunt Sarah Schroeder and Uncle Frank Aschbrenner.
Pictured: Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner, Sara Schroeder Aschbrenner, and Frank George Wilhelm Bernard Aschbrenner.
Location: Wisconsin.
Date: 1926.
Churned water
The water was churned up by the dam on the day this photo was taken.
Location: Wisconsin.
Date: 1926.
Bridge
A photo of a bridge to somewhere.
Location: Wisconsin.
Date: 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.
Denise
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.
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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