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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Sornam

Mannaigudu, Tanjur

Father
Munisawmi Thavan
Mannaigudu, Tanjur
Indentured ancestor
Sornam
female · Mannaigudu, Tanjur
The crossing
Origin
Mannaigudu
Tanjur
Ship
UMKUZI XVI
no. 106276
Year
1904
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Sornam’s family came from Mannaigudu, Tanjur 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 Sornam or Munisawmi Thavan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Mannaigudu, Tanjur?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1904)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMKUZI XVI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Sornam and Munisawmi Thavan 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 Mannaigudu

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

Sornam 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.