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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Chemnagari

Thallkolam, Chingleput

Father
Muthusami Naik
Thallkolam, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Chemnagari
male · Thallkolam, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Thallkolam
Chingleput
Ship
PONGOLA XVI
no. 55824
Year
1894
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Chemnagari’s family came from Thallkolam, 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 Chemnagari or Muthusami Naik?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Thallkolam, Chingleput?
  • 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?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Chemnagari and Muthusami Naik 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 Thallkolam

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

Chemnagari 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.