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.

An Assortment

The 35th page of Sally’s photo album contained an assortment of photos that seem to have been from disconnected times and places. Moving forward in time, through the pages, we are up to about 1929. Yet, several of the photos seem to be from Sally’s friend Marion in California, and one of those photos was dated July 1926. So, perhaps this page just became a catch-all for photos that didn’t already have a place in the album.

Harvesting ice

Back before the times of electric refrigerators in the home, people kept their perishables cold in their ice boxes with blocks of ice. This photo shows two people working with blocks of ice. The picture is too blurry to really see the faces.

Pictured: Unidentified.

Location: Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: Unknown.

Sally

A young Sally poses at 922 South Fourth Avenue.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

Location: 922 South Fourth Avenue, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1917-1921.

Girls in the corn

We’ve seen this photo before. Back on page #10. Sally (third from left) and friends pose in the cornfield.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner (third from left) and unidentified friends.

Location: Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner farm, Highway A, Town of Berlin, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1921.

Doggy

This picture of a dog made it into the album.

Location: Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1921.

Elizabeth and Sally in the corn

Years later, Sally was in the corn again. This time with her friend Elizabeth Lemke.

Pictured: From left, Elizabeth Louise Lemke and Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

Location: Town of Berlin, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1929.

Fishing

Sally was balancing on a plank over the water while fishing.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

Location: Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1926-29.

Swimming

Though the picture is fuzzy, it appears that this photo captures some Aschbrenner family members enjoying some time in the water. It looks like Elsie standing. Did she forget her swimsuit? It may be Fred farthest left in the water. It is Sally next to him. The fourth person hasn’t been identified. This picture might go with another back on page 24.

Pictured: Elsie Edna Aschbrenner (possibly), Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner (possibly), Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, and unidentified.

Location: Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1926.

Mail Carrier

Sally’s uncle Ed Aschbrenner was a mail carrier. In the winter, the sleigh and buggy were needed to navigate the rural roads. Ed and his brother Frank both became rural letter carriers rather than farmers. Ed moved to Wausau when he joined the post office because his route originated from the Wausau Post Office. His brother delivered mail out of the Hamburg Post Office.[1]

Pictured: Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner.

Location: Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1926.

Winter coats

Sally and her much taller friend posed in this photo wearing their winter coats. They were seen before, in different coats, on page 28.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, right, and unidentified friend.

Location: Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1928-29.

Views of California

Back on page 24, Sally received photos from her relative Marian Eleanor Twomey Lehr who was living in California. On this page, we find three more photos from Marian.

Pictured: Marion Eleanor Twomey Lehr. Her friend Betty Kinney Mosleigh is in the swimsuit photo too.

Location: California.

Date: July 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.

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

Edward Aschbrenner

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

Marian Eleanor Twomey

Marian Eleanor Twomey was a first cousin once removed of Sally. Their mothers were maternal first cousins. She married Raymond Adams Lehr on 15 October 1925 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. They had three sons and settled at Long Beach, Los Angeles, California.

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:

[1] Personal family history work of Ruth Aschbrenner.

The Aschbrenner Family