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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Palani

Sendamangalam, Salem

Father
Kuppan
Sendamangalam, Salem
Indentured ancestor
Palani
male · Sendamangalam, Salem
The crossing
Origin
Sendamangalam
Salem
Ship
PONGOLA II
no. 39524
Year
1889
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Palani’s family came from Sendamangalam, Salem district. Living relatives may still be there — a voter-roll lookup can name them, and the modern village page shows land records and families we already track.

Verify with your elders

Colonial ship-clerks often mangled Tamil names. Before treating this as your ancestor, ask the oldest person in your family:

  • Was there a great-great-grandfather named Palani or Kuppan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Sendamangalam, Salem?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1889)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA II, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Palani and Kuppan are added instantly, ready for you to extend with living relatives.

This is my family — build my tree

Two paths: build your tree if this is your ancestor, or submit evidence to help a South African family verify their village link. See the Village Verification Project.

More families from Sendamangalam

Source: theiii.in Natal indenture register (digitised ship record). Names and places are the colonial spellings as recorded; verify against family memory before treating a lineage as certain.

Privacy — no living person’s details are ever shown in public

Palani appears here only because this is a historical indenture record (1860–1911) — the person named sailed over a century ago. Family trees, voter matches and any living-relative data sit behind a login and are visible only to the account owner they belong to.