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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Chelli

Kunnathur, Chingleput

Father
Durgu
Kunnathur, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Chelli
female · Kunnathur, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Kunnathur
Chingleput
Ship
PONGOLA XXXV
no. 84314
Year
1901
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Chelli’s family came from Kunnathur, Chingleput 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 Chelli or Durgu?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kunnathur, Chingleput?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1901)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA XXXV, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Chelli and Durgu 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 Kunnathur

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

Chelli 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.