Inheritance, succession, and familial transfer in rural Westphalia, 1800–1900

Abstract

This article compares property transfer contracts between generations in two Prussian parishes where marital law differed significantly in the 19th century. Our sources focus on two critical phases in peasants' life cycles at the time. Whereas young people could find the resources to settle down, the older generation had to plan for their retirement. Although sons had a better chance of inheriting the farm, female successors were not rare. A peasant daughter's overall prospects of becoming a peasant by inheriting her parent's farm or marrying a farm successor were almost as good as her brother's. The situation for older women, however, was subject to their legal standing with regards to marital property. When couples held joint marital property, men and women had the same opportunities to arrange for retirement. In contrast, when couples held separate marital property and male succession prevailed, older women were at an evident disadvantage. D

The increasing influence of siblings in social mobility. A long-term historical view (Barcelona area, 16th-19th centuries)

“…It has been pointed that the heirs (the eldest) were usually the first to marry (Congost, Ferrer Alós, & Marfany, 2013;Marfany, 2006). However, perhaps the clearest aspect of the eldest single-heir sibling is highlighted by the vast literature arguing that in most societies with impartible inheritance systems they were by far the most likely sibling to inherit the same parental occupation (Arrizabalaga, 2005;Béaur, 2004;Congost, Ros, & Saguer, 2016;Ferrer i Alòs, 2009;C. Fertig, Lünnemann, & Fertig, 2005).…”

Family Composition, Birth Order and Marriage Patterns: Evidence from Rural Alsace, 1750-1885

“…One way was to drive a hard bargain with children over the transfer of property. Parents might seek to retain control over land or other assets for as long as possible and specify exactly what a child was required to provide in the way of support before bestowing on children the property they needed to conclude a marriage (Denis, 1996;Fertig et al, 2005). The conclusion of these arguments is that parents were not opposed to their children marrying but they did work hard to insure that when children married their own well-being was not adversely affected.…”

“…I would argue that young people generally desired marriage and sooner rather than later. 1 For parents, the marriage of their 59 children was not an undesirable outcome, but they were concerned that the marriage of their children might leave them without support in their old age (Fertig et al, 2005). Given these underlying motivations, how might young people's marriage prospects be influenced by the number of siblings they had and their own position in the family?…”