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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Pitchiah Pillay

Ariyalem, North Arcot

Father
Ponna Pillay
Ariyalem, North Arcot
Indentured ancestor
Pitchiah Pillay
male · Ariyalem, North Arcot
The crossing
Origin
Ariyalem
North Arcot
Ship
UMKUZI XV
no. 103737
Year
1904
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Pitchiah Pillay’s family came from Ariyalem, North Arcot 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 Pitchiah Pillay or Ponna Pillay?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Ariyalem, North Arcot?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1904)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMKUZI XV, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Pitchiah Pillay and Ponna Pillay 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 Ariyalem

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

Pitchiah Pillay 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.