Benjamin Stephen
Madras, Madras
Benjamin Stephen’s family came from Madras, 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.
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 Benjamin Stephen or Joseph Stephen?
- Did family ever mention coming from Madras, Madras?
- Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1879)
- Any family memory of a ship named VIMEIRA II, or a passage to Natal around then?
Claim this record to start your family tree — Benjamin Stephen and Joseph Stephen are added instantly, ready for you to extend with living relatives.
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.
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.
Benjamin Stephen 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.