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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Gopaul

Chellapakoru, Chingleput

Father
Chella Pillay
Chellapakoru, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Gopaul
male · Chellapakoru, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Chellapakoru
Chingleput
Ship
UMVOTI IV
no. 16966
Year
1878
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Gopaul’s family came from Chellapakoru, 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 Gopaul or Chella Pillay?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Chellapakoru, Chingleput?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1878)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMVOTI IV, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Gopaul and Chella Pillay 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 Chellapakoru

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

Gopaul 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.