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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Chelly

Kistnavaram, North Arcot

Father
Muthan
Kistnavaram, North Arcot
Indentured ancestor
Chelly
female · Kistnavaram, North Arcot
The crossing
Origin
Kistnavaram
North Arcot
Ship
UMLAZI XVI
no. 90011
Year
1901
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Chelly’s family came from Kistnavaram, North 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 Chelly or Muthan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kistnavaram, North Arcot?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1901)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMLAZI XVI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Chelly and Muthan 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 Kistnavaram

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

Chelly 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.