John Gribbel
Two years later, Griffin died and Gribbel became sole owner of the business, which continued under the same name and ownership and was notably successful.
[2] After becoming head of this concern, the sphere of his interests gradually widened to such an extent as to assume a national character and to include gas, electric and street railway utilities, operating in several parts of the United States.
[2] One of Gribbells residences was St. Austel Hall in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, designed by architect Horace Trumbauer and built between 1899 and 1900 by George F. Payne and Company of Philadelphia at a cost of $74,000.
In September 1914, Gribbel severed his connection, resigning the office of vice-president and leaving the management wholly in the hands of Curtis.
[2] Politically Mr. Gribbel was an independent Republican, and in December 1914, was elected president of the Union League, retiring at the expiration of three terms in that office.
[12] Apart from business Gribbel's greatest interest was in the study and collection of American Colonial historical documents and of seventeenth-century English books and engravings.
In December 1913, Gribbel forever endeared himself to every loyal Scot at home and abroad by purchasing and giving to Scotland under a deed of trust the priceless Glenriddell Manuscripts of the poet Robert Burns.
These two volumes, strongly bound in calf, comprise the largest collection of Burns manuscripts in existence, and contain the letters and a selected number of poems which he wrote out and presented to his friend and patron, Robert Riddell of Glenriddell, in 1791.
When Riddell died, in 1794, the two volumes passed back to "Bonnie Jean," Burns’s widow, and were given by her to Dr. Currie to be used by him in connection with the preparation of his edition of the poet’s works.
These include, "Mother's Mutton Broth", "New Amsterdam Molasses Cake", "Rhode Island Rice Pudding" and "Strawberry Sauce".
[18] On January 17, 1929, Maj. W. Griffin Gribbel, just released from a sanatorium where he was being treated for shell-shock (PTSD), caused by his experiences in World War I, shot and killed Inspector of Police, John W.
He was arraigned in the West Side Court, New York, on charges that he had attempted suicide after having appeared in the Astor Hotel under the influence of an unidentified drug.
His parents were travelling in Mexico at the time and Robert Haines, who served as the family butler at their palatial estate in Wyncote, PA, was present in court when he was arraigned.
