Benjamin Franklin Triebel (1854-1929)

Left, standing - William Frederick Triebel (1875-1952).  He brought his family to Dutchess County from Cohoes, NY and in the spring of 1917 started Triebel's Garage in the village of Red Hook.  Will and his wife Grace (Fero) Triebel are buried in Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery, Dutchess Co., NY along with two daughters who died young.

Right, standing - Benjamin Franklin Triebel (1854 - 1929) of Cohoes, Albany Co., NY.  Ben is buried in Waterford Rural Cemetery, Saratoga Co., NY with his parents William and Phebe (Cranson) Triebel.

Seated - William Franklin Triebel (1902-1946) with his oldest son Donald Franklin Triebel (1926-2001).  Franklin and his wife Dorothy are buried in Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.

Benjamin Franklin Triebel as a boy

Ben Triebel worked for the Rutland Railroad, Harmony Mills, and was a cabinetmaker and inventor.  He lived on Bowery Street (now Matson Street) in Cohoes, where he had a shop with drafting equipment (we have two newspaper clippings reporting that it caught fire and burned badly - see below).  He was evidently a good mechanic but not so good a driver - he built a turntable in his garage so that he would not have to back his car out.

Benjamin Franklin Triebel's drafting tools, circa 1930, now in a museum (in either Cohoes or Waterford - will double check this).  The gold seal on the inside of the lid partially reads:  E. O. Richter & Co.  Made in Germany.  

EARLY MORNING FIRE

Benjamin Trieble (sic.) Nearly Suffocated - The Key West Steamer Refuses to Get up Steam

Some young men coming from a wake this morning saw sparks of fire, and smoke, coming from a one story building in the rear of no. 50 Bowery street.  They sent in an alarm from box 37, corner of Bowery and Elm street, at 2:25 o'clock.   The McCreary Steamer company and Mitchell Hook and Ladder company and paid members responded.

The building was used by Benjamin Trieble as a carpenter shop and draughting room and he also had a bedroom there where he slept.   He had very valuable drawing instruments and patterns in the place and some fine books.

Mr. Trieble often worked late all alone in this place as he did last night.   He cannot say how the fire caught, whether from the lighted tobacco in a pipe or a stove.   He had undressed and retired and was sound asleep when the fire broke out and had to run for his life in his night clothes half suffocated by the smoke.   Two streams of water were got on the fire but the pressure on the water main was so poor that no effective work was done.

The Key West loaned steamer was brought on the scene, being stationed on Bowery street, but it was twenty-five minutes before any steam could be got up or any service be got out of the machine and by that time the fire was under control.   The building and contents were insured for $1200, but what the loss will be is not stated.

ANOTHER FIRE

About 2:15 o'clock this morning, Daniel Murphy and another young man, residing in the Fifth ward, discovered flames in the story and a half frame building at 48 Bowery street, owned by Benjamin Trieble (sic.) and occupied by him as a work shop.   Mr. Trieble used the building for carpenter and cabinet work, and for making drawings, and he also slept there.   The two young men who discovered the fire, sent in an alarm from box 37 at the corner of Elm and Bowery streets, and the fire department responded in due time and had streams of water on the burning building.   The flames had made considerable headway when discovered and despite the well directed efforts of the firemen, the building was wrecked and the contents ruined.

Mr. Trieble told a Dispatch reporter today that he was awakened by a smothering sensation caused by the smoke and that on getting out of bed he found the place on fire, and was forced to escape through a window with only a part of his wearing apparel on.  He entered the building again and succeeded in securing a part of his clothing.  He said he had no idea how the fire originated.

There was a boiler and engine and a lot of tools in the building also a large number of valuable drawings made by Mr. Trieble, all of which he says, were destroyed.  Mr. Trieble places his loss at $1,600.  He says he has an insurance of $1,200.

It took two teams to draw the hook and ladder truck to the fire on account of the snowfall.

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