The High-Flying Sottiles of Charleston SC

Shown above are the five Sottile (sah-tilly) brothers with their two sisters.  No, these immigrants from Sicily were not circus performers.  A family biography put it this way:  “Through their hard work, determination and entrepreneurial skills…Giovanni, Nicholas, Santo, Albert and James achieved high esteem, affluence and prosperity in their various business ventures and civic efforts in Charleston.”Their launching pad in South Carolina, as indicated by the illustration above, was selling whiskey.

As the eldest and first to come to America, Giovanni (aka “John”) Sottile was the “founding brother.”  As each siblng reached maturity, four would follow him:  Nicholas in 1890, Santo, 1891, Albert, circa 1897, and James, 1899.  After landing in New York City, Giovanni, shown here, had gone straight to South Carolina, to become an accountant for a phosphate mining company.  After several years, he left that job and settled in Charleston and entered the liquor trade.  With brother Nicholas in May 1895 he opened a bar and food stand called the Jetty House on nearby Sullivan’s Island.  That enterprise evolved into a liquor and beer enterprise located at a complex called the Vendue Range, near the Charleston waterfront. Called G. Sottile & Bro. it was a success and brought considerable wealth to the family.

Giovanni and later his brothers, understanding Charleston’s potential for growth,  intelligently used their money to buy real estate in and around the city. Because of Giovanni’s prominence, in 1899 the Italian government appointed him as Italy’s honorary consul for North and South Carolina.  From his experience with the mining company Giovanni was aware of the harsh treatment often meted out to Italian workers and he took up their cause.  According to a report:  “One sick worker who could not return to work was shot dead for disobeying a work order. Sottile appealed to South Carolina Governor McSweeney and investigations ensued. This was the first of three exploitation incidents that Sottile was involved in investigating for possible prosecution.”

At a model farm Giovanni bought about 20 miles from  Charleston, he actively gave employment to Italian immigrants.  He also had purchased a spacious four story house brick house in Charleston from which he managed his consular activities and entertained Italian dignitaries and local politicians.  His childhood sweetheart, Carmela Restivo, whom he had returned to Italy to marry, proved a gracious hostess.  In 1909 Giovanni’s service earned him a knighthood from the King of Italy.   Unfortunately, at the height of his career, Giovanni died unexpectedly at home in 1913.  Only 46, he left a widow and four minor children.  With his brothers and their families in attendance he was buried in Charleston’s St. Lawrence Cemetery.

Nicholas Sottile, the second brother to arrive from Sicily, continued Giovanni’s legacy of entrepreneurship and public service.  As some point he left the family liquor house at the Vendue to own and operate the Washington Square Cafe,  a popular Charleston eatery and saloon, strategically placed across from the Hibernian Hall between Broad and Queen Streets.  As South Carolina was going “dry,” Nicholas apparently determined that the crockery offered more opportunity and established the China and Glass Emporium on King Street and an automobile paint shop.

Nicholas also was active in local affairs, serving as a Charleston alderman and later a member of the board of trustees of Charleston High School.  As the father of eight children he apparently had a strong appreciation of the value of education.  Retired as he reached 60 years, Nicholas died unexpectedly of a heart attack in November 1928.   Commending this Sottile as “ever active in politics and the general life of the community,”  Charleston’s mayor ordered the flag flown at half staff over city hall in Nicholas’ honor.  He was buried in St. Lawrence Cemetery near Giovanni.

Meanwhile the Sottile liquor house at the Venue, now called Sottile Brothers, had continued without Giovanni or Nicholas. In charge were Santo and Albert Sottile, with the youngest brother, James, employed there.  Shown above is a company letterhead from 1904 advertising their primary brand, “Old Quaker Rye.”  This was the product of the Corning Distillery of Peoria, Illinois, and a premier national brand. [See post on Corning January 26, 2016].

As prohibitionary pressures increased, Santo Sottile, shown here, shifted his focus.  In the 1910 census he gave his occupation as “wine merchant.”  By 1914, at the same location he was listed as president of the “Interstate Distributing Company” advertised as “general brokers.”  It is not clear whether the outfit was dealing in wine or spirits.  As many other whiskey men did as prohibition prevailed, Santo moved into the automotive field, listed as running a garage and “The People’s Tire Service.”  Subsequent directory listings recorded him as a Charleston Cadillac dealer.  Married and the father of six children, Santo died at the age of 61 and was buried in St. Lawrence Cemetery.

Prohibition also had moved Albert (aka “Alberto”) Sottile, shown here, out of the liquor trade.  In rapid fashion he earned recognition as “Charleston’s “great entertainment impresario” a man who “understood the value of visual delights,” according to a July 2019 article in the College of Charleston Magazine.  Albert was the 1908 founder and president of the Pastime Amusement Company, heading it for 52 years.  During that time, the magazine reported:   “Mr. Sottile oversaw a dazzling stable of properties punctuating downtown Charleston, including the Garden Theatre, the Riviera and the American on King Street; the Arcade on Liberty Street; and the Victory on Society Street. Most showed first-run films…while others also presented touring vaudeville shows.”

Shown above is the Sottile Theater, now part of the college campus.  It is reported that during intermissions at this theatre while the 16 millimeter reels were changed, Albert would entertain the audience by singing Italian songs, accompanied by a large pipe organ he had imported from Italy.   Like his brothers, Albert was a family man with a wife and one daughter.  He housed them in the large frame mansion at 11 College St., also now part of the campus.  Albert died in 1960 at the age of the age of 82.  His burial site is not identified.

Although James (aka “Frank”) Sottile was the youngest of the brothers and the last to arrive in America, he proved to be a fast learner.  Employed at the Sottile Brothers liquor house through 1907, by the 1910 census, he listed his occupation as an independent broker, unspecified as to what he might have been brokering.  Three years later, still under 30 years old, James would be listed in city directories as president of a Charleston company that manufactured “sashes, doors, blinds and general millwork,” vice president of Albert’s amusement company, and president of the Charleston-Isle of Palms Traction Company.  In 1914, with the exception of a few lots,  James became sole owner of Isle of Palms, a seashore resort island near Charleston.  As shown below, he constructed a spacious beach pavilion and a Ferris wheel on the property.  He made his headquarters at the Charleston hotel, above, a venue he also came to own.

But Charleston was not enough to satisfy James’ ambitions.  Married and with three children, he looked to Florida as a place for profitable investment.  While always considering the South Carolina city home, he and his family maintained a residence in Miami. James’ principal investment was a 30,000 acre property near Florida City known popularly as Sottile Farms.  After investing heavily in digging drainage canals and establishing roads, he leased farm plots to Italian-American farmers employing a tenant system used in Sicily.  Assisted by his sons, James gradually built up holdings of over 5,000 acres of citrus groves and 10,000 head of cattle on 30,000 acres of pasture. He eventually owned nine Florida banks.

Said one South Florida newspaper report: “ Not long after the arrival of James Sottile on the scene Florida City morphed into an Italian community…The new farmers were very industrious and sacrificing and later prospered greatly.  Sottile was also very generous, donating land for the State Farmers’ Market, farm worker housing… and the land for Homestead’s Bayfront Park.”  Giovanni’s legacy lived on.  

By the time of his death in 1964 at age 77, James was accounted one of the richest men in America.  His body was carried from Florida back to Charleston where he was buried at St. Lawrence Cemetery not far from his brothers.  Subsequent generations of Sottiles have carried on the family tradition of creative entrepreneurship, public service and concern for those less fortunate.  They have placed a plaque with the names of the family members who immigrated to the United States on the “American Immigrant Wall of Honor” at Ellis Island and hold regular reunions.  Importantly, descendants have given due respect to what generated the initial financial impetus for Sottile achievements: Selling whiskey.  The image that opens this post was the cover of a family reunion brochure.

Note:  Given their achievements, the Sottiles deserve book-length treatment, perhaps generated by the College of Charleston.  Led to the brothers as “whiskey men” by the picture that opens this story, I found considerable material on genealogical sites and in newspaper articles, including obituaries. The family website offered photos. Unable to find a photo of James Sottile, I am hopeful a descendant will see this post and provide one.