The publication of Gert Goebel's book, "Longer Than a Mans Lifetime in Missouri," in English is causing quite a stir among historians at the State Archives and within the group known as the Friends of the Missouri State Archives, who have deemed the volume a "historical treasure."
Goebel's work was the topic of a Thursday lecture in Jefferson City by noted Missouri historian John Brenner, the editor of the Missouri Historical Review.
A crowd of more than 90 listened as Brenner described the circumstances of how Goebel's work, originally published in 1877, had to wait more than 130 years before it could be enjoyed by English-speaking readers.
"The work on translating this book started over 40 years ago when a professor at the University of Missouri, Elsa Louise Nagel, began transcribing the work," Brenner said. "When Nagel died (in the 1970s), the work remained unfinished and the manuscript incomplete."
Nagel's colleague Adolf E. Schroeder, another German American scholar, would later restart and complete the process.
Brenner described Schroeder and his colleagues as "an all-star line-up" of some of the best scholars in the field. Those scholars agree that Goebel's work, which begins with stories from the first German settlers to the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War, is the most extensive narrative of 19th century German-American relations in Missouri.
"Few other works exist today of such an early time in American history with such a unique narrative," Brenner said in a later interview. "I hope that historians will continue to value, as they have for decades, Goebel's work."
Brenner said Goebel's work is filled with not just mundane historical facts, but actual insight into the lives of the German families and their American neighbors.
Goebel was born in 1816 in Cobourg, Germany. The Goebels would immigrate to the United States when Gert was 18 to avoid the political upheaval in Germany. The family settled in rural Franklin County. David, a mathematics professor, struggled to adjust to his new occupation of agriculture.
"The most educated, affluent Germans had the most difficulty adjusting to life in the United States," Brenner said. "David was unprepared for the challenges life in America presented him, while Gert adopted very quickly."
In 1842, Goebel married the daughter of another German immigrant family and settled near New Haven. Brenner said the New Haven farm appears several times throughout the book, with each appearance providing a "great vantage point as the American and German cultures merged together."
In 1862, Goebel served his first term in the Missouri legislature and would be locked in the 1865 battle of wits as a state senator to abolish slavery in the state.
"That victory, I would imagine, would be deemed the high point of his legislative career," Brenner said. The exact details of Gert's time in the legislature are vague, but Brenner said three things are guaranteed - "He was a radical Republican, a strong unionist and an emancipation advocate."
Brenner closed his presentation with a reminder that much of Missouri's history was witnessed or interpreted by Goebel and included in his work.
"Goebel was there for the Civil War, serving in the Home Guard," Brenner said. "He was in the state legislature during the statehouse's resistance to emancipation. His work depicts one of the widest sweeps of Missouri history."
Attending the event was Paul Rothove, a Jefferson City native, who now lives near Ashland.
Rothove found the presentation filled with new information and said that he enjoyed his first time attending the monthly speaker series sponsored by the Friends of the Missouri State Archives, the Missouri State Archives, and Secretary of State Jason Kander.
Upcoming events for the Friends of the Missouri State Archives include a watch party next Wednesday at Canterbury Hill Winery for the television show's "Who Do You Think You Are" episode featuring television actress Cynthia Nixon, who uses the state's historical archives to retrace her ancestry. Much of the episode was filmed at the archives' Jefferson City facility. The watch party begins at 7 p.m.
Next month, a multimedia presentation will be given over the history of organized crime in Kansas City, the infamous Civella Crime family, and the FBI investigation known as "Operation Strawman."