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.

Eau Claire Dells and parade

The 31st page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos taken in the Eau Claire Dells and of a Wausau parade.

Eau Claire Dells

“Mr. and Mrs. Frank Aschbrenner and children, Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Meyer and son of Kenosha and Mr. and Mrs. Fred Aschbrenner of the town of Berlin spent Saturday at the Eau Claire dalles.”

Wausau Daily Record-Herald, August 6, 1928.

The paper doesn’t mention Sally being along on the trip, but in her photo album there are several pictures on a page labeled, Eau Claire Dells. The timing would be right for these photos to have been taken on that 04 Aug 1928 trip.

We’ve heard of the Wisconsin Dells, but what are the Eau Claire Dells (or dalles)? According to Travel Wisconsin’s page on the Dells of Eau Claire, The Eau Claire Dells display fantastic geological features created by the Eau Claire River. Ancient volcanic rock palisades and potholes carved in the rock by falling water create a unique place at the dells and gorge. The Dells are about 20-miles northeast of Wausau.

Who were Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Meyer and son of Kenosha? Mrs. Philip Meyer was Mable A. Raduechel, a half-cousin of Sally. Mable’s mother was Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner, half-sister to Sally’s dad, Frederick. As a widow, Amelia Emilie lived with her daughter and son-in-law Mable and Philip. It would make sense that she was along on the trip, even if her name didn’t make it into the paper. Ed and Laura Aschbrenner were there too, as well as another family who have yet to be identified.

Swimming in the Eau Claire Dells

Family members swam in the Eau Claire River as part of their trip to the Eau Claire Dells.

Pictured: Unidentified.

Location: Eau Claire River, Wisconsin.

Date: 1928.

Meyer Family at the Dells

Based on that newspaper article, it is presumed that this photo features the Philip Meyer family, Philip, Mable, and Leslie, posing on the rocks at Eau Claire Dells.

Pictured: Philip Conrad Richard Meyer, Mable A. Raduechel Meyer, and Leslie P. Meyer.

Location: Eau Claire Dells, Wisconsin.

Date: 1928.

Children at the Dells

This double exposure photo features children from the family gathering at the Eau Claire Dells. If the assumption made on the previous photo is correct, then the boy standing farthest to the left, is Leslie P. Meyer. Next to him is Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner. The other two have been yet to be identified.

Pictured: From left, Leslie P. Meyer, Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner, and unidentified.

Location: Eau Claire Dells, Wisconsin.

Date: 1928.

Women and children on the rocks

This photo features women and children of the family posing on the rocks at Eau Claire Dells. Not all have been identified, but we see Alice, Mable and her son Leslie again, as well as Laura and her daughters, Elsie and Evelyn. Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner Raduechel is there too.

The newspaper article said that the Frank Aschbrenner family was on the trip, but unless Sarah Schroeder Aschbrenner is the gal far left in the back row, they aren’t pictured. It doesn’t really look like her, but people look different in different photos perhaps. Or, maybe Frank and Sarah visited the Dells with the Meyers on a totally different trip? So much guessing when people don’t label the photos when they were taken!

Who are the other women and children? Please comment if you know or have a guess.

Pictured: Back, from left, Unknown, Mable A. Raduechel Meyer, Elsie Edna Aschbrenner, Unknown, and Laura Fehlhaber Aschbrenner. Front, from left, Unknown, Unknown, Leslie P. Meyer, Amelia Emilie Aschbrenner, Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber Aschbrenner, and Evelyn Ruth Aschbrenner.

Location: Eau Claire Dells, Wisconsin.

Date: 1928.

In the Dalles

Sally’s cousin-in-law stands in the rocks of the Eau Claire Dells.

Pictured: Philip Conrad Richard Meyer.

Location: Eau Claire Dells, Wisconsin.

Date: 1928.

Parade in Wausau

These photos are assumed to belong with the pictures of the presidential visit in August 1928. The parade in the photos may have been the big one that was part of the American Legion convention that brought President Coolidge to town. We can see that Wausau was all decked out with patriotic decorations. They had Dungan Jeweler, Star Clothiers, a sporting goods store and many other businesses. This event drew quite the crowd, there were even people sitting in the windows above the street to get a glimpse of the parade.

The Wausau Daily Record-Herald reported that the 14 August 1928 American Legion parade was the largest parade the department of Wisconsin has held since its organization. The parade featured thirty musical organizations and over 3,000 people took part in the procession. The parade stretched out for almost three miles and took 45-minutes to pass the reviewing stand in the front of the court house park on Third Street. They claimed that with the streets all gaily decorated and with the varied colors worn by the paraders, Wausau never looked so attractive.

Location: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 14 August 1928.

Cabin and Friend

The last two photos on this page featured a cabin and a woman.

We’ve seen this cabin before when Sally and the Live Y’Ers took a hike.

Location: Probably the Sarah Alexander lodge back of the country club, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: 1928.

Gal on a Wagon

Given the mud, we have to hope that this gal didn’t fall off the back of the horse-drawn wagon.

Pictured: Unidentified.

Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: 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

Mabel Adeline Augusta Raduechel and Philip Conrad Richard Meyer

Mabel and Sally were half first cousins.

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:

“Dells of Eau Claire Park,” Travel Wisconsin (https://www.travelwisconsin.com/campgrounds/dells-of-the-eau-claire-park-195016 : accessed 20 Sep 2020).

“Carl Raduechel Not A Suicide: Investigation Shows Death to Have Been Result of Accident,” 12 Dec 1911, page 1 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/271715054/ : accessed 23 Aug 2020), Wausau Daily Herald, Wausau, Wisconsin

“Legion Parade Was Largest, Best State Has Ever Presented: Line of March Three Miles Long, Took 45 Minutes to Pass Given Point, Thirty Bands, Corps, Parade Breaks Up at Marathon Park for Afternoon program; Completion,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 15 Aug 1928, page 1 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/271797405/ : accessed 19 Sep 2020).

The Aschbrenner Family