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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

John

Nagathamman Covil Street, Madras

Father
Samuel
Nagathamman Covil Street, Madras
Indentured ancestor
John
male · Nagathamman Covil Street, Madras
The crossing
Origin
Nagathamman Covil Street
Madras
Ship
PONGOLA XXVIII
no. 73167
Year
1898
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

John’s family came from Nagathamman Covil Street, 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.

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 John or Samuel?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Nagathamman Covil Street, Madras?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1898)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA XXVIII, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — John and Samuel 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 Nagathamman Covil Street

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

John 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.