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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Iyanna Thevan

Thovukal, Tinnevelly

Father
Karuppana Thevan
Thovukal, Tinnevelly
Indentured ancestor
Iyanna Thevan
male · Thovukal, Tinnevelly
The crossing
Origin
Thovukal
Tinnevelly
Ship
UMFULI IV
no. 125543
Year
1875
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Iyanna Thevan’s family came from Thovukal, Tinnevelly 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 Iyanna Thevan or Karuppana Thevan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Thovukal, Tinnevelly?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1875)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMFULI IV, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Iyanna Thevan and Karuppana Thevan 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 Thovukal

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

Iyanna Thevan 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.