QUICK LINKS

The Sehmi's from Tajpur

Latest addition to the Sehmi Family

Colonel Vakil Singh Sohal

New Photos - Sehmi's AUS

Jeevan - My Amrit Ceremony

The Sehmi's Family Tree

NEW!! Amita weds Yaniss on Saturday 24 July 2004

Introduction

The British conquered the Punjab in 1848. According to the 1881 census, of the 1.7 million Sikhs, the agriculturalists (farmers and peasants) formed the largest group - 66%.The artisans (carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, barbers and tailors) formed an unusually larger second group - 10.1%. In the post-independent India, the artisan group was a major factor in the rapid industrialisation of the manily agricultural Punjab.

Apparently, the sehmi "clan" was well spread over the Punjab. This became evident in East Africa where a large atrisan Sikh community came to work on the construction of the railways, in the first third of the last century.

In the 1950's there was a sufficiently large number of Sehmi families, especially from northern and central Punjab (Majha and Doaba), in Nairobi Kenya, that they have constituted a clannish "Sehmi" Union. This union has survived to the present day, in fact the union has continued to function in the UK.

Our Sehmi family originates from Southern Punjab (Malwa), about 40 km south east of Ludhiana, from a small village called TAJPUR near the town of Raekot.

Now Tajpur has about 400 houses and a school, both primary ans secondary, 50 meters from our house. Seed money for starting the school was donated by us in memory of Hari Singh who lived and died in that house in February 1980.