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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Thannam

Rettaikulam, Madura

Father
Virakanijan
Rettaikulam, Madura
Indentured ancestor
Thannam
male · Rettaikulam, Madura
The crossing
Origin
Rettaikulam
Madura
Ship
UMZINTO XXIX
no. 96465
Year
1902
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Thannam’s family came from Rettaikulam, Madura 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 Thannam or Virakanijan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Rettaikulam, Madura?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1902)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMZINTO XXIX, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Thannam and Virakanijan 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 Rettaikulam

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

Thannam 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.