Few families can boast (and the Mehtas are very good at that) of having such a long history. Starting circa 1300 AD with Kamdin – our earliest known ancestor – the Mehtas lived in the same area of Navsari for almost 600 years before they went into diaspora all over the world in a sudden, collective burst.

The family's original name was Talati – keeper of land records – and it was only in the late 17th century that the famous brothers, Bhaiji and Ramji, adopted the name Mehta. One branch of Bhaiji's descendants called themselves Munshi, and another branch went on to be called Batliwallas, but these were rare cases.

It was Edulji Navrozji Mehta who, after retiring as headmaster of the boys' school in Bulsar, decided to research the family's history. His painstaking work – in an age when there were no electronic tools for help – was of amazing clarity and depth. The first edition of the "Mehta Khandaan ni Vansavli ané Tavaarikh" was printed in 1921 and further research made him bring out a second edition in 1940. Finally a supplement was printed in 1941 which added some names missing from earlier editions.

The descriptive text from Edulji Mehta's book is, however, proving to be a little problematic as my knowledge of formal Gujarati is limited, and I read the language at snail's pace. Any help on this score will be much appreciated.

In the 1980s, my dad, Jal Mehta, began the task of updating the information by calling family members he knew and, through them, others. However, with births and deaths constantly taking place, it's not easy keeping track. Further, Edulji's book is almost entirely in Gujarati, so for the sake of future generations, I've transcribed the names into English. Then, all 2,200+ of them have been entered into a database using Personal Ancestral File 5.0 in my spare time. This software, which is no longer available from http://www.familysearch.org/, didn't have the most delightful interface in the world, but with so many names to collate, did the job very well. The information was then imported into the current online database which can be accessed from the link below.

My sister Roxane, with a little help from me, expanded on an old hand-drawn family tree, seen above. It was quite a task and, when complete, was almost five feet high. A silk-screen was made and copies distributed to a few family members. However, the print quality was poor because the screen was wider than a standard printing table. Now, I only hope someone from the next generation will take on the task of digitizing the drawing, preferably writing the names in English since almost nobody reads Gujarati anymore. Such a drawing would be easy to update – and easy to print anywhere in the world.

The family tree data can be accessed using the link below. It is a constant work in progress. Please go through the names and let me know of errors and omissions. Please note also that some details – especially dates for living family members – are masked for privacy and security reasons.

Click here to see the Family Tree