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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Jembagam Pillai

Kilmadurai, Madura

Father
Periasami Pillai
Kilmadurai, Madura
Indentured ancestor
Jembagam Pillai
male · Kilmadurai, Madura
The crossing
Origin
Kilmadurai
Madura
Ship
UMZINTO XXXIX
no. 120749
Year
1865
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Jembagam Pillai’s family came from Kilmadurai, 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 Jembagam Pillai or Periasami Pillai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kilmadurai, Madura?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1865)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMZINTO XXXIX, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Jembagam Pillai and Periasami 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 Kilmadurai

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

Jembagam 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.