Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
About Seth Sothel, Royal Governor
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38836
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Seth Sothel, a native of England, became a Lord’s Proprietor, and became a landowner of stupendous proportions. He was commissioned in 1678 as Governor of the Albemarle region of North Carolina. When he sailed for North Carolina, his ship was captured by Algerian pirates who enslaved him and held him for ransom. Sothel refused to repay the men who paid his ransom and he was thrown into debtor’s prison. After his release he finally came to the North Carolina colony. As a “Seignor,” Sothel was entitled to 12,000 acres in each county. His land went from the Pasquotank region to Colleton, SC, whereon he had Indian trading posts and Indian and black slaves raising tobacco, hogs and sheep. Sothel turned out to be corrupt; accepting bribes, seizing estates, stealing slaves, imprisoning his detractors, ignoring the other proprietors instructions, protecting pirates and misusing public money. In 1689, the colonists imprisoned him and the NC Assembly banished him from the Albemarle region for one year and forbid him from holding public office. A few years later, Sothel exercised his right as proprietor and claimed governorship of South Carolina. He continued his corrupt ways and the Lord’s Proprietors took away his rights in 1691 and appointed Philip Ludwell, Governor of the Carolina province. After a short fight, Sothel relinquished his power, left South Carolina and is believed to have died around 1694 and buried at his Salmon Creek Plantation in North Carolina.
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