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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

John Edwards

China Bazar Road, Madras

Father
Joseph
China Bazar Road, Madras
Indentured ancestor
John Edwards
male · China Bazar Road, Madras
The crossing
Origin
China Bazar Road
Madras
Ship
UMKUZI VII
no. 86056
Year
1901
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

John Edwards’s family came from China Bazar Road, Madras 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 John Edwards or Joseph?
  • Did family ever mention coming from China Bazar Road, Madras?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1901)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMKUZI VII, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — John Edwards and Joseph 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 China Bazar Road

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

John Edwards 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.