Hermann Christian Niemeyer, son of William A. and Sarah Howard Chandler Niemeyer, was born on February 2, 1856. Niemeyer matriculated at Virginia Agricultural & Mechanical College from Portsmouth, Virginia in 1875 and seems to have graduated in 1878. He married Marie Louise Hook in St. Louis in 1882. Census records indicate that the couple moved with their oldest daughter back to Portsmouth, Virginia in late 1883 or 1884. The Niemeyers had four more daughters and lived on Swimming Point in Portsmouth. Through the 1880s and 1890s, Niemeyer tried his hand at several different business enterprises. His obituary reported that he had engaged in the commission business, the book business, and the real estate and rental business. He had also been connected with the Portsmouth Star as a "special man and route agent." City directories of the late 1880s list him as a brick manufacturer. Niemeyer's business connections led him, in 1896, to be elected secretary and treasurer of Portsmouth's board of trade, a position in which he continued to serve until his death, which occurred in his home on July 17, 1899. He was buried in Portsmouth's Cedar Grove Cemetery.