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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Gnanapragasam

Sempattu, Trichinopoly

Father
Loosai
Sempattu, Trichinopoly
Indentured ancestor
Gnanapragasam
male · Sempattu, Trichinopoly
The crossing
Origin
Sempattu
Trichinopoly
Ship
UMZINTO XLI
no. 125146
Year
1874
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Gnanapragasam’s family came from Sempattu, Trichinopoly 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 Gnanapragasam or Loosai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Sempattu, Trichinopoly?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1874)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMZINTO XLI, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Gnanapragasam and Loosai 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 Sempattu

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

Gnanapragasam 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.