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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Kanniappen

Somamangalam, Chingleput

Father
Mottiyan
Somamangalam, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Kanniappen
male · Somamangalam, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Somamangalam
Chingleput
Ship
CONGELLA XV
no. 54217
Year
1894
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Kanniappen’s family came from Somamangalam, 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 Kanniappen or Mottiyan?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Somamangalam, Chingleput?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1894)
  • Any family memory of a ship named CONGELLA XV, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Kanniappen and Mottiyan 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 Somamangalam

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

Kanniappen 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.