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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Shunmugam

Muddukapatti, Tinnevelly

Father
Muthirulan
Muddukapatti, Tinnevelly
Indentured ancestor
Shunmugam
male · Muddukapatti, Tinnevelly
The crossing
Origin
Muddukapatti
Tinnevelly
Ship
PONGOLA LX
no. 130719
Year
1877
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Shunmugam’s family came from Muddukapatti, Tinnevelly 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 Shunmugam or Muthirulan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Muddukapatti, Tinnevelly?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1877)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA LX, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Shunmugam and Muthirulan 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 Muddukapatti

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

Shunmugam 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.