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.

Scenery, Family, and a Wedding

The 18th page of Sally’s photo album featured a collection of photos taken in and around 1925. We see some landscape photos, some great family photos, and candid shots from a friend’s wedding.

Scenery

Country roads and lake views. These places aren’t identified, but the photos were surely taken in Wisconsin.

Location: Wisconsin.

Date: circa 1925.

Fred and Fred Jr.

Sally’s dad, Fred, and brother, Freddy, admire something from their home in Wausau.

Pictured: Frederick A. Helmut Aschbrenner and Frederick Carl Aschbrenner.

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

Date: circa 1923-1925.

Alice and Sally

Sally and her mother pose outside their Wausau home.

This could quite possibly have been prior to a Mother-Daughter banquet hosted by the Live Y’ers club at the Y.W.C.A on 16 May 1925. The banquet was an annual event, so this could have been 1924 instead. Or, perhaps, they were dressed up for another event altogether.

It almost looks like snow on the ground, which would not match up with the May date. But, nevertheless, it is interesting to know that the pair did attend a Mother-Daughter banquet. The Wausau Daily Record-Herald reported on the event.

Miss Selma Aschbrenner gave a brief talk on “My Mother’s Job and Mine,” in which she said that the mother’s job was to take care of the daughter, and the daughter’s job was to appreciate it.”

– Wausau Daily Record-Herald, Monday, May 18, 1925.

Pictured: Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber Aschbrenner and Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

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

Date: circa 1924-1925.

Sally

Sally poses outside of the family home in Wausau.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner.

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

Date: circa 1923-1925.

Sense-Rhyner Wedding

While the photos are not labeled, some genealogical work leads to a possible identification of the bride as Geneva L. Sense.

It’s a guess anyway.

Sally won a prize when she attended a wedding shower for Geneva. Though the shower was given by girls of the mixed choir of St. Stephen’s church, Geneva was also a member of the Live Y’ers club to which Sally belonged. At the shower, Sally won a prize for a high score in Bunco.

On January 7, 1925, Geneva married Leo Rhyner at the parsonage of St. Stephen’s Lutheran church. The snow in the photos could certainly indicate a January wedding.

Pictured: Selma Cornelia Aschbrenner, far right of first photo. Bride may be Geneva L. Sense Rhyner. The other women are unidentified.

Location: Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Date: possibly January 7, 1925.

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

Geneva L. Sense Rhyner

Geneva L. Sense was born in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin, on 16 Feb 1905, to Alma Ohrmundt and Fred Sense. She was a 1923 graduate of Wausau High School. On 07 Jan 1925, she married Leo A. Rhymer. They were living in Rothschild, Marathon, Wisconsin by 1930. The couple had four children. Geneva died on 12 Sep 1982, at the age of 77.

Selected Sources:

“News of Society,” [Surprise shower] Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 10 Feb 1925, page 3 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272547349/ : accessed 26 Jul 2020).

“News of Society,” [Sense-Rhyner wedding] 08 Jan 1925, page 5 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272537671/ : accessed 26 Jul 2020), Wausau Daily Record-Herald, Wausau, Wisconsin

“News of Society,” [Annual Live Y’er mother and daughter banquet] Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 18 May 1925, page 3 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/272555482 : accessed 02 Aug 2020).

The Aschbrenner Family