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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Chelli

Thandray, Chingleput

Father
Viraragadvadu
Thandray, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Chelli
female · Thandray, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Thandray
Chingleput
Ship
CONGELLA XXIII
no. 65700
Year
1897
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Chelli’s family came from Thandray, 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 Chelli or Viraragadvadu?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Thandray, Chingleput?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1897)
  • Any family memory of a ship named CONGELLA XXIII, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Chelli and Viraragadvadu 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 Thandray

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

Chelli 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.