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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Mahomed Oosman

Papasamudram, North Arcot

Father
Meerathin Saib
Papasamudram, North Arcot
Indentured ancestor
Mahomed Oosman
male · Papasamudram, North Arcot
The crossing
Origin
Papasamudram
North Arcot
Ship
PONGOLA XVI
no. 55899
Year
1894
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Mahomed Oosman’s family came from Papasamudram, 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 Mahomed Oosman or Meerathin Saib?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Papasamudram, North Arcot?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1894)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA XVI, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Mahomed Oosman and Meerathin Saib 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 Papasamudram

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

Mahomed Oosman 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.