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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Matharai

Kuttiappa, Gramain Street, Gramain Street, Madras

Father
Kempu
Kuttiappa, Gramain Street, Gramain Street, Madras
Indentured ancestor
Matharai
male · Kuttiappa, Gramain Street, Gramain Street, Madras
The crossing
Origin
Kuttiappa, Gramain Street
Gramain Street, Madras
Ship
PONGOLA XXXVII
no. 87687
Year
1901
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Matharai’s family came from Kuttiappa, Gramain Street, Gramain Street, Madras 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 Matharai or Kempu?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kuttiappa, Gramain Street, Gramain Street, Madras?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1901)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA XXXVII, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Matharai and Kempu 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 Kuttiappa, Gramain Street

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

Matharai 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.