Catharina van Malabar, SM/PROG - Alternative Data After Merges

Seems she had at least 10 names, and at least 6 surnames.

Although I agree that we should only consider the more popular ones, so not to split the vote (if any). First time I hear of Coromandel. And on Geni I prefer the 'usual spelling', so for me she must be:

Catharina van Malabar

(and whatever it is in future, just stick with it).

Have just been contacted by Mizwar Muklis from Kedah, northern Malaysia whose mtDNA is N21. Totally perplexed as to why someone not born in Malaysia should also belong to this haplogroup. Interestingly Kedah has also been known as Kalah-bar and Quilah amongst other names. Sound very similar to Malabar - just a thought!

It is always confusing when so many places in the Indian Ocean rim were sources of slaves. Malabar is the name of the WEST coast of India while Coromandel is the EAST , mainly modern TAMIL NADU. In addition, Bengal was another source. And such slaves may NOT necessarily have been ' INDIAN ' in origin- the name could simply the port where the slave was PURCHASED. Arakan in BURMA was another big slave depot. Now IF Catharina WAS from Coromandel, she would more have likelh been TAMIL in origin. These SOUTH Indians of DRAVIDIAN origin are distinct from Malabaris from West India. If the query from Malaysia comes possibly from a descendant of the relatively revent importation of TAMIL and other south Indian workers by the British colonial administration, it could shed more light on Catharina possibly?

Important to know that VOC officials and also private individuals were far from consistent in naming slaves and referring to them in the record, and that slaves were moved around from one VOC post to another. Van Bengale could be anywhere along the coastline surrounding the Bay of Bengale, viz. Anna Groothenning van Bengale whose matrilineal descendants have tested for the mtDNA common to Burma/Myanmar. Slaves from Malabar (van Malabar or van de Kust Malabar) were at times recorded as Van de Kust, or Van der Kust Coromandel, and vice versa for slaves from the Coromandel Coast. Slaves were usually named for their place of origin or where they were first enslaved, but not always. A slave from anywhere in the region could have ended at one or other VOC post, and when sent to the Cape would be named for the post they went sent from. Many slaves at the Cape were variously named in the record - and figuring out who is who is sometimes impossible. At other times it is only through an intensive process of eliminating other individuals that you are able to figure out who is who. Also first names varied widely in the record .. based on the literacy of the scribe, on their ability to pronounce names, or their in/accuracy, and so on. None of this is cut and dried. There is only one person I know who has intimate knowledge of the paleography, the languages and how they were spoken at the time, and almost all the individuals who featured in the record all in one package and that is Mansell.. All others have bits and pieces of one or more.

Birth Date 1637 or 1640
Death Date 1703 or 15 March 1676

Birth Location Malabar, India Coromandel, Bengal
Death Date c. 1703 before 1744

Catharina is my 8th grandmother through my grandfather's (mother) line. I recently had my DNA tested by Telomere to break it up into more detailed ethnic groups, and some rather surprising results on the South Asian DNA came up. It showed the following ethnic groups: 3.40% Balochi, Brahui and Makran, 1.18% India, Pakistan and Afghanistan (Pathan and Sindi).
While not all this may be relevant to Catharina, it supports the conclusion that the slaves came from diverse places in SE Asia, including Afghanistan!

Where did you have this done K. Lynn?

Death Date c. 1703 c. 1693 1744