Dots i llegats dels Baldrich de Valls (1768-1863)

Aquest article presenta les dificultats que van haver d’afrontar entre 1768 i 1863 els hereus de la casa Baldrich de Valls per liquidar els dots i les deixes testamentàries. Anton Baldrich Janer va nomenar hereu el fill gran del primer matrimoni amb l’obligació de pagar als seus germans i especialment als seus germanastres unes quantitats molt elevades de diners atorgats en un moment de grans expectatives econòmiques, gràcies al comerç amb Amèrica i el nord d’Europa. Durant la primera meitat del segle XIX, alguns anys de males collites, les contínues guerres i la independència de les colònies americanes feren minvar els recursos i van afeblir la hisenda familiar. Els successius hereus maldaven per pagar les contínues reclamacions dels cabalers i les cabaleres de les diferents generacions, fet que els impedia invertir en noves empreses per tal d’ampliar i modernitzar els seus negocis. L’any 1863, el darrer hereu Baldrich va morir sense descendència, havent pagat els darrers deutes familiars però sense haver creat nous horitzons per als seus successors.

This article is concerned with the difficulties faced by the heirs of the Baldrich family of Valls when, during the period 1768 to 1863, they were attempting to fulfil their obligations related to dowries and inheritances. Anton Baldrich Janer named his eldest son by his first marriage hereu, or universal heir, as was the custom in Catalan families, but with the obligation to pay his siblings, and especially his half-brothers and sisters, large amounts of money adjudicated at a time when trade between America and northern Europe had considerably raised financial expectations. During the first half of the 19th century, poor harvests, continual wars and the independence of the American colonies diminished the family’s resources and weakened their financial situation. Successive generations of hereus struggled to meet the continuous claims of their brothers and sisters —the cabalers and cabaleres who would normally have the legal right to a percentage of the inheritance— with the result that they were unable to invest in new enterprises which would have expanded and modernized their commercial activity. In 1863, the last hereu of the Baldrich family died childless, having paid off the last of the family debts but without having opened up new horizons for his successors.