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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Ratnam

Sothiyambankkam, Chingleput

Father
Pyandi
Sothiyambankkam, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Ratnam
male · Sothiyambankkam, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Sothiyambankkam
Chingleput
Ship
UMKUZI VI
no. 83687
Year
1901
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Ratnam’s family came from Sothiyambankkam, Chingleput 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 Ratnam or Pyandi?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Sothiyambankkam, Chingleput?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1901)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMKUZI VI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Ratnam and Pyandi 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 Sothiyambankkam

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

Ratnam 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.