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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Irulappen Sernai

Kangirangulam, Madura

Father
Poonalingam Sernai
Kangirangulam, Madura
Indentured ancestor
Irulappen Sernai
male · Kangirangulam, Madura
The crossing
Origin
Kangirangulam
Madura
Ship
UMFULI VI
no. 129222
Year
1877
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Irulappen Sernai’s family came from Kangirangulam, 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 Irulappen Sernai or Poonalingam Sernai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kangirangulam, Madura?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1877)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMFULI VI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Irulappen Sernai and Poonalingam Sernai 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 Kangirangulam

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

Irulappen Sernai 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.