VERAMENDI ESTATE, NEW BRAUNFELS. A suit to clear title to the Comal Tract, where New Braunfels is located, had originally been instituted by the heirs of Juan Martín de Veramendi in 1852 for the purpose of recovering land settled by the Germans in 1845; in 1854 the Supreme Court of Texas decided in favor of the Veramendi heirs. The New Braunfels citizens offered to pay the debt (principal together with accrued interest) owed by the bankrupt German Emigration Company, the Adelsverein, but the heirs refused to accept the money. The case was brought up again in December 1876, when the heirs of the Veramendi estate filed suit in the United States Circuit Court, demanding possession of the land. Friedrich Hermann Seele was the attorney and secretary for the Citizens Committee of New Braunfels, which opposed the Veramendi claims; the case was finally settled on April 24, 1879, when the court rendered a decision in favor of the New Braunfels citizens. A bronze plaque with the text of the decision was placed on the pedestal of the statue in Landa Park, honoring the German pioneers of New Braunfels. See also SOLMS-BRAUNFELS, PRINCE CARL OF.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rudolph L. Biesele, The History of the German Settlements in Texas, 1831-1861 (Austin: Von Boeckmann-Jones, 1930; rpt. 1964). New Braunfels Zeitung-Chronicle, June 27, 1966.