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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Arunachellam

Semiavaram, Tanjore

Father
Muthusamy
Semiavaram, Tanjore
Indentured ancestor
Arunachellam
male · Semiavaram, Tanjore
The crossing
Origin
Semiavaram
Tanjore
Ship
PONGOLA LX
no. 130732
Year
1877
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Arunachellam’s family came from Semiavaram, Tanjore 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 Arunachellam or Muthusamy?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Semiavaram, Tanjore?
  • 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?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Arunachellam and Muthusamy 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 Semiavaram

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

Arunachellam 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.