I use Firefox. But, I'd be willing to install a version of Chrome if it came without all of the Google garbage pre-installed. I was hoping that maybe Chromium could fill this role.

There's a project that does exactly this. (I can't comment on the quality or the trustworthiness.)

https://github.com/Eloston/ungoogled-chromium

I have used it in the past but now I use Chromium instead as a Chrome replacement since it is more stable than ungoogled-chromium.