Seth Sothel (also spelled Sothell and Southwell, d. c. 1694) was a colonial American proprietor and
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
of the
Province of Carolina
Province of Carolina was a province of England (1663–1707) and Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until partitioned into North and South on January 24, 1712. It is part of present-day Alaba ...
. He ruled the northern portion,
Albemarle Sound
Albemarle Sound () is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the Chowan and Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Currituck Banks, a ba ...
(future
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
), in 1678 and the southern portion (future
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
) from 1690 to 1692. He died in North Carolina in about 1694.
[Dennis F. Daniels]
"Seth Sothel"
NCpedia
Biography
Sothel purchased a propriety from Edward Hyde, which made him become a
Lord Proprietor
A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary".
Origin
In the beginning of the European ...
. The Lord Proprietors decided to send Sothel to Albemarle with the order to become governor of the colony. This was based on the fact that Sothel was not a partisan of any faction of the
Culpeper's Rebellion, which was still in development.
After leaving England, he was captured by
Algerian corsairs. During the time he waited to be released, Albemarle was governed by
John Harvey John Harvey may refer to:
People Academics
* John Harvey (astrologer) (1564–1592), English astrologer and physician
* John Harvey (architectural historian) (1911–1997), British architectural historian, who wrote on English Gothic architecture ...
and, upon Harvey's death, by
John Jenkins. After Sothel was released, he took the role.
During his administration, he caused many crimes. Sothel prohibited trade between the settlers and the
Amerindians
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples.
Many Indigenous peoples of the Ame ...
, but he kept the benefits. He imprisoned people who opposed him (including Thomas Pollock and George Durant) and kept his lands. He confiscated "merchant ships and their cargoes", stole slaves, cattle, and farmlands and accepted bribes from criminals in exchange for releasing them without prosecution.
However, in 1689, after he established the Salmon Creek plantation, the residents of the colony revolted against him and captured him. They sent Sothel back to England for trial where he was punished by forbidding him from another office in North Carolina. He was expelled from the government of the colony on December 2, 1689, and exiled for a year.
The
Lords Proprietors
A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary".
Origin
In the beginning of the European ...
on December 5, 1689 issued a commission to
Philip Ludwell
Philip Cottington Ludwell (1638 – 1723) was an English-born planter and colonial official who sat on the Virginia Governor's Council and briefly served as speaker of the House of Burgesses. Ludwell, in addition to operating plantations in Vi ...
, who was the third husband and sole heir of
Lady Berkeley
The word ''lady'' is a term for a girl or woman, with various connotations. Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the equivalent of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men. Inform ...
(her second husband having been the late Proprietor
William Berkeley and her first husband was
Samuel Stephens the 2nd governor of the Albemarle Sound colony). Ludlow sailed from London and established a government for the northern colony the following spring, but his authority was challenged by Virgini
John Gibbs who had assumed power when Sothel left. Both Ludwell and Gibbs sailed to London by years end, where the Lords Proprietor disallowed Gibbs' claim (which was based on the Fundamental Constitution's requirement of a resident governor), so he sailed back to Virginia. The Lords Proprietors then explicitly revoked the Fundamental Constitution and in November 1691 issued another commission to Ludwell (who also lived in Virginia with Lady Berkeley) with explicit power to appoint a deputy governor for northern Carolina, and expecting that he would make
Charles Town the government seat. He arrived there in April 1692, published his new commission and established a government, although he found affairs wthere chaotic and returned to North Carolina and Virginia by May 1693.
By this time Sothel had fled to South Carolina. He announced himself as governor in 1690, but was suspended on November 8, 1691. Sothel then returned to Albemarle, to Salmon Creek, where he died a year later, in about 1694.
[Governor of "Ye Lands South and West of Cape Feare" 1690 to 1692](_blank)
/ref>
Personal life
Sothel was a landowner and he married Anna Willix. They had no children.
References
External links
* McCrady, Edward
''The History of South Carolina during the Proprietary Period''
(covers Sothel's governance of South Carolina)
* Powell, William
''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, Volume 5''
(contains a biographical sketch)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sothel, Seth
1694 deaths
American colonial people
Colonial governors and administrators
Colonial governors of South Carolina
Year of birth unknown