Appeal from Harris. Tried below before the Hon. James Masterson.

This case was before this court at a former term, and will be found reported in 35 Texas, 323. It was then remanded for trial, reversing the decision of the court below, which sustained appellant’s special demurrer to appellees’ petition on the ground that no title to the land could vest in the plaintiffs by the death of their ancestor in 1853, under the laws then in force, because of the alien-age of their ancestor and themselves.

The petition, among other allegations of equitable right by parol contract of purchase, averred that a deed for the' land had been executed by Schrimpf, and that title had vested in Settegast before his death. This material fact was, therefore, admitted by the demurrer. The decision of this court, as understood and enforced on the trial below, was, in effect, that a resident alien, who had made declaration of intention to become a citizen, but who died before being naturalized, was yet competent and capable, as a citizen, both to take and to hold land by title ; and, also, that upon the death of such resident ancestor, the title to lands was transmitted from him to his minor children, and that they also were capable of taking, and did take, title by descent from the ancestor, and that upon coming of age they could maintain an action for possession of the land.

This decision and the construction of the opinion of this court was carried out in its full extent]by the court below, on the trial had there.

The pleadings are the same as on the former appeal, except that the demurrer was overruled and a trial had on the answer denying the merits alleged. The petition, as amended, alleged that Settegast and appellees were natives of Prussia; that he emigrated in the year 1851 with his family, including his infant children, the appellees ; that soon after he made a parol contract for purchase of the land with Schrimpf, accompanied with possession under it, and made valuable improvements, then worth $1000, .and resided and died on the land in 1853; that he paid the purchase money and received a deed from Schrimpf, which had been lost or destroyed by Schrimpf after their ancestor’s death in 1853; that if in fact the money had not been paid and no deed made, appellees were now ready and willing to pay the money and interest ; that their ancestor had made a declaration of intention to become a citizen before the clerk of the District Court of Harris county, in the year 1853, and had died in the fall of that year without having been naturalized; but that the appellees had recently, since they came of age and since Schrimpf s death, been admitted as citizens under the naturalization laws ; and they prayed for absolute judgment for the land, or for a decree for specific performance of the parol contract by execution of title and possession to them, as the facts might turn out on trial.

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