Hermann Niederweiser & Mathilde Deutsch

Hermann Franz Josef Paul Niederweiser son of Paul Johann Niederwieser and Anna Müller was born on 02 Sep 1884 in Sillian, Lienz, Tirol, Austria.

Mathilde Franziska Doris Deutsch, daughter of  Moritz Deutsch and Therese Kohn, was born on 02 Aug 1890 in Vienna, Wien, Vienna, Austria. She died on 30 Aug 1969 in Bad Reichenhall, Berchtesgadener Land, Bavaria, Germany.


Mathilde also was known as Matilda.



Hermann was an orphan. 

Hermann and Mathilde emigrated together to the United States.

From Ancestry.com immigration records:

Hermann Niederweiser, 24, Merchant, listed as "Non Immigrant Alien"

With wife Minnie, 18

Father's address: 1 Wipplengrasse 20 Vienna

Destined for St. Louis

On the ship Mauretania, from Liverpool to New York, arriving 19 February 1909

Old photo of the Mauretania

When WWI broke out Hermann was taken to an internment camp because he was a German national. His wife and daughter were in Austria at the time visiting relatives. They never were able to find out what happened to him. In 1918 there was a severe flu epidemic in the United States, so the family always assumed he probably died in the internment camp. However, prisoners received good medical treatment and not many died of the flu. (46 Internees at Fort Oglethorpe died.)

Internments of Germans started in May 1917. Locations were Fort McPherson, Georgia, Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and Fort Douglas, Utah (they have a list and he's not on it). For a short while was one at Hot Springs, North Carolina. In 1918 things started getting a bit hysterical with mass arrests. Final arrests were in February 1919. Camps finally closed in May 1920. Fort Oglethorpe had the most prisoners.

Link to article about WWI internment camps

Link to another family history site, with paintings by a man held in the Oglethorpe internment camp

Hermann and Mathilde were married on 02 Feb 1909 in Vienna, Wien, Vienna, Austria. They had one child:

• Dorothea Anna Niederweiser was born on 19 Feb 1910 in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. She died on 17 Dec 2003 in Cary, Wake, North Carolina, USA. 

 Some photos and records - contact me for larger copies.

Marriage Certificate

Hermann's birth certificate. This is the only piece of information I have regarding his parents.

Certificate of Citizenship for Hermann, from Lienz (Tirol), dated 1921.

A family photo that was found, labeled "Niederwieser". We don't know who she is.