Tracing roots of the family tree
In our continuing coverage commemorating the 157th anniversary of the arrival of Indians to South Africa on November 16, 1860, Tholsi Mudly tells how she traced her family roots, while Nirvani Pillay and Vino Nair take us back in time. Arushan Naidoo also
CURIOUS about her roots, an oThongathi (Tongaat) woman set out on a mission to discover her forefathers, who had come to South Africa from India.
She later played a hand in the preservation of heritage sites to commemorate the arrival of the 1860 indentured labourers.
In 2006, Tholsi Mudly decided to trace her family background.
Armed with their birth certificates, which her late parents had given to her, she spoke to elders in her family, conducted research and visited a documentation centre in Gardiner ( now Dorothy Nyembe) Street.
Through her research, Mudly found information on her paternal great-grandparents, Iyemperumal and Solai Padachi, of Salem, in Tamil Nadu, and maternal great- grandparents, Chinnien and Nallamma Padachi, as well as maternal great- grandfather, Madurai Padachi, also of Salem.
They arrived on the Umzinto XII on June 29, 1896.
She also found that her paternal great- grandmother, Thayamma Thurgia, of Bangalore, arrived in Natal with her threeyear-old daughter, Rajamma Kappusamy, on the Congella XXVI on March 28, 1898.
Through the laborious research, she said she realised her immediate family and future generations would benefit from knowing their roots.
“I found out that Thayamma was despatched to the Natal Sugar Estate in Mount Edgecombe, where she toiled the soil and carried water to the labourers, while the Padachi family joined the New Guelderland Estate and thereafter moved to Addington Farm in Stanger (now KwaDukuza).
“Chinnien proved to be talented in many fields. He installed water pipes on farms and was well-known for his herbal remedies.”
Wanting to find out where her forefathers had been laid to rest, Mudly enquired from elderly relatives, who fortunately remembered.
She learnt that Thayamma Thurgia was buried at the Inyaninga Memorial Garden; Iyemperumal, Solai and Madurai Padachi at the Shakaskraal Cemetery; and Chinnien and Nallamma Padachi at the Addington Farm Estate.
Together with Amafa, a provincial heritage resources authority, and the Heritage Agency of KZN, Mudly approached the owners of the properties and requested the sites be declared heritage spots, to which the owners agreed.
“It took time to find the grave sites, elders needed to be consulted, permission had to be sought from the owners of the properties and quite often we had to feel our way through thick undergrowth but it was worth it at the end,” she said.
Mudly, who authored A Tribute to our Forefathers in 2011, in a bid to leave a legacy, said families of the indentured labourers visit the memorial sites during the month to offer prayer.