Família e patrimônio no sul do Brasil do século XIX: as transmissões de propriedades através de alianças familiares, testamentos e inventários post-mortem

Abstract

The actual work has as objective to understand the transmissions of the big properties in the south of brazil during the XIX century, and which are the conflicts go on of the disputes of the properties in the landwning families. We have as study object three families belonging to Campos de Cima da Serra and Catarinense Planalto. Our mainly goal is analizing the ways how the sharing heritage were developed and if the patrimonial transmissions were subjected to conflicts involving properties titles and possession of lands. We showed the structures and familiar organizations and tried to understand which were the strategies devoloped in the interior of relative groups to preserve their own patrimonials, where it was concentrated the wealth of these countryside people and what is the importance of ranchers activities for their farms. We demonstrated that the biggest part of the farmers fortune wasn’t referred the land they owned, but the productive structure existing on them. We highlighted the importance of the cattle to the famrs in the time, together with the slave work and the right management of the properties. Our studies indicated that the maintenance of good relationship in the families among the members of the relative groups helped in the process of caring with the patrimonials when its was inventoried. In this way, when the families kept unique in front of the friendly relationship of cooperation for the commom well there were more possibilities that the heritage didn’t suffer big losses in the division moment. However, the rivalries between the heirs, as well as their misunderstanding and disputes for the properties , could have as a result the meaningfull lag of the inventoried patrimonial. In this way, the legatees who had the opition for friendly sharing dealt with less risks of having their heritage prejudiced. We checked the existing laws which determined the sharing of the heritage were the philippine ordinances and the same guaranteed to all heirs the equality according to the sharing of the properties, not doing any distinction among the sons’ age neither its gender. The sharing happened being considerated the headmaster of the family who was still alive, in our cases the widows and, when they couldn’t assume the managemnet of the properties, it was designated attorney. So, all the way, the widow had the right of fifty percent of all fortune let for the dead husabnd, and the other fifty percent was shared among the sons of the couple and in case of one of them had already died, the sharing of this one would be shared between the grandchildren. Our regional cut takes actual districts of Vacaria/RS, Lages/SC, and São José dos Ausentes/RS, where we showed the ways of transmissions of the referring patrimonials to the families of josé joaquim ferreira, antonio manoel velho and laureano josé ramos. Our mainly researches are based mainly in wills and inventories post- morten, but also were checked criminal processes and the sizes of the properties. This work was developed between the perspective of a regional study that gives us the possibility to understand a little bit more about a landwoning elite of the south of brazil in the XIX century and the way how these people organized themselves in their own familiar and economic structures.