 Born in Oppeln (present-day Opole, Opole Voivodeship), in Prussian Upper Silesia on 9 January 1847, Garbe was the eldest son of the master locksmith, Ferdinand Garbe.He went to elementary school in Oppeln and learned his father's locksmith trade.The desire for further education led him to the technical school at Breslau, where he worked in the main workshops of the Upper Silesian Railway and passed his exams as an engine driver in 1867.