5/31/1783: San Antonio merchant killed by Apaches

[Craig Tx]

On this day in 1783, San Antonio merchant and alderman Fernando Veramendi was killed by Mescalero Apaches near the presidio of San Juan Bautista in Coahuila.

Veramendi, born in Spain in 1743 or 1744, came to Texas around 1770. He married into a family of Canary Islanders in San Antonio in 1776. Once established in San Antonio, Veramendi's business thrived. He opened a store, acted as moneylender, and bought extensive tracts of agricultural land. His success allowed him to build an opulent house on Soledad Street that later came to be known as the Veramendi Palace. He served in the city's militia, was alderman in the ayuntamiento of 1779, and was elected senior alderman for the year 1783. He was killed while on a business trip to Mexico City. His son Juan Martín de Veramendi served as governor of Coahuila and Texas in 1832-33.