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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Gopala Pillai

Pilla Chavadi, South Arcot

Father
Srinivasa Pillai
Pilla Chavadi, South Arcot
Indentured ancestor
Gopala Pillai
male · Pilla Chavadi, South Arcot
The crossing
Origin
Pilla Chavadi
South Arcot
Ship
CONGELLA XXVII
no. 74656
Year
1898
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Gopala Pillai’s family came from Pilla Chavadi, South Arcot 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 Gopala Pillai or Srinivasa Pillai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Pilla Chavadi, South Arcot?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1898)
  • Any family memory of a ship named CONGELLA XXVII, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Gopala Pillai and Srinivasa Pillai 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 Pilla Chavadi

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

Gopala Pillai 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.