Where in the World was Isidor Waldman Teschner?

Earlier this year, I dug deep for my wife's long-lost Jewish roots and boldly pronounced that Isidor Waldman Teschner and Sadie Simmons were very likely her great-great-grandparents, parents to her great-grandmother, Mildred Tabor. I further argued that Isidor and Sadie were married, but not to one another. There was no smoking gun, but my twenty-page proof contended that Isidor and Sadie deliberately concealed his identity on records relating to her and the children.

However, there was a gap in the evidence; Mildred was born March 14, 1897, in Atlanta, Georgia, far away from New York City, where Isidor and Sadie both lived. Isidor did travel a great deal for his work as a salesman and a correspondent for the Musical Courier magazine, so it was indeed possible that he and Sadie were in Georgia. Still, I had no evidence he or Sadie ever were in that state. 

After a few months of on-and-off research, I've uncovered more details that add to the case. Not only did I search in new databases, such as Mexican newspaper archives, I examined all the existing sources more carefully. Isidor Waldman Teschner appeared in various records with subtly different names: Isidor Waldman Tabor, Waldman Teschner, and Isidoro Teschner. He also frequently went by his initials, I.W. Teschner or just I. Teschner. At that time, the letter "I" could appear as a "J" in cursive writing, which further complicated the record search. 

So here are some of the many new details I uncovered:

• Isidor W. Teschner checked into the Hotel Lanier in Macon, Georgia in January 1896
• Isidor worked with Victor Thrane and Charles W. Young to book Eugène Ysaÿe in Mexico
• Isidor not only wrote for the Musical Courier in Mexico, but he also promoted tours for musicians, such as Louis Blumenberg
• Isidor very briefly managed Captain Payen's Famous Mexican Band, before he failed to obtain sufficient funds for them to travel to Paris (and then vanished from Mexico)
• Captain Payen's Famous Mexican Band performed in Atlanta, Georgia May 14-16 1897 

I also discovered the birth of Arthur Tabor, son of Isidor Tabor and Sadie Simmons, on February 3, 1898, in New York. Little Arthur sadly died on July 20 of that same year. Early that same year, Isidor departed New York for Mexico, where he remained until the summer of 1899 when he returned to New York. His youngest son, Walter, would be born in New York in 1901.

So Isidor had indeed travelled to Pennsylvania and Georgia, where Frank and Mildred were born. Atlanta newspapers did not record hotel visits, so would not have recorded any stay by Isidor, but many musical acts did perform in the city that spring, which he may have promoted or covered as a correspondent. Interestingly, on May 17, 1896, the New Orleans Times-Democrat printed that J.W. Teschner and wife from New York checked into the Hotel Pickwick. 

Hotel Pickwick c1903

At this time, a reader could easily confuse the cursive I with a J and another newspaper had also incorrectly transcribed his initials. Further, I searched several databases for a Teschner with the initials J.W. and found none. This hotel visitor could have very well been Isidor, accompanied by either Sadie or Esther, but since it was only 43 weeks before Sadie would give birth to Mildred in Atlanta, I lean toward Sadie. 

If my interpretation of these new facts is correct, then it fills a few holes and sharpens the picture. There are still many uncertainties, however. Is Isidor Frank's father as well? If so, why did Mildred marry Moss? Was it to provide legitimacy for Frank? Or did Mildred and Isidor get together only after Mildred and Moss were married? I'm not sure records can tell this whole story. More DNA analysis may be needed. ​