Seth Sothel

Seth Sothel (* around 1638 in England , † before February 3, 1693 in what is now Bertie County , North Carolina ) was an English colonial governor in the Province of Carolina .

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Nothing is known about Seth Sothel's youth and schooling. He acquired substantial land holdings in England and also secured land in Albemarle Sound , the northern part of the Province of Carolina , from which the present-day US state North Carolina emerged . On the way there, in 1678 he fell into the hands of Algerian pirates, who held him prisoner until 1681 and then released him for a ransom. In 1682 he was appointed governor of that province. He held this office until 1689. He increasingly turned out to be a criminal. The list of allegations against him was long. He was accused of imprisoning political opponents and then incorporating their lands into his own possession. In addition, he is said to have confiscated merchant ships and their cargo. He illegally obtained slaves, livestock and farmland, and he proved to be corrupt and tyrannical on top of that. All this led to his deposition and flight south in 1689 to what would later become the Province of South Carolina . After the dismissal of the governor there, James Colleton , he was appointed governor, despite his history in the north, which is also known in the south, where he took up his new office in 1690. Since he apparently continued his criminal style known from the north, he was soon deposed again here (November 8, 1691) and by Philip Ludwell . He later retired to his plantation in North Carolina, where he also died. He was never seriously held accountable for his offenses as governor in either part of the Province of Carolina.

Web links

• Sothel at Carolana.Com
• Sothel in the NCPedia
• Sothel in the Preservation Society of Charleston