Judge Effie KNOWLES  (1892  -  1984)
overall author unknown  (edited by R. B. Noles)
Miami Daily News article by, William E. Benton
comments by family member, Jane Rowland
July, 2008

Effie Knowles was born March 26, 1892, in Key West, Florida, to an American born father with Bahamian ancestry and a mother actually born in the Bahamas, also from a family with Bahamian ancestry. For a little Key West girl, with humble beginnings and relatively obscure parents and family, Effie Knowles became, a notable and distinguished tax attorney in the United States Justice Department during the Franklin Delano Roosevelt era, and later an attorney who while in private practice in Miami, won a huge land award on behalf of her Seminole Indian Tribe clients. In 1970, the Indian Claims Commission awarded the tribe $12.5 million for 32 million acres taken from them by the US army. This was the claim that Effie Knowles worked on, receiving a fee of $150,000.

Effie Knowles then went on to apply what she had learned about claiming property in Florida, to researching her own family tree, identifying those in it who were historically awarded land grants issued by the English Crown to her Bahamian ancestors and then laid claim to said land tracts which consisted of vast acreage over a number of the Bahamas Islands, including some choice New Providence lots, and thus suddenly went from a total unknown person in the Islands to an extremely recognizable name in Bahamian real estate and legal circles although she died in 1984 in Miami at the age of 92 and yet very few people seemed to know much about her.

Effie's mother was Bahamian and her father was American born in Key West, but with Bahamian ancestry.  Her father, William E. Knowles, was the son of James Alexander Knowles who was born in the Bahamas's but arrived in Key West at an early age with his mother, father and siblings in 1850 just before the census was taken that year.  Her mother, Julia, was from Nassau, where both of her parents were born. Julia's children were all American born.  The 1906 Key West city directory lists Julia as a widow.  When she died in 1956 at the age of 91, the Miami Herald referred to her as a "pioneer" who came to Florida as a child.

According to the Smathers Library at the University of Florida, Effie became a lawyer in 1926 after working as a legal secretary. At the height of the Depression, the 1930 census puts Effie living with her widowed mother, two sisters (Laura and Beatrice) and a brother (William) at Northwest 14th street in Miami.  All five were described as white and literate, and Effie - a lawyer - owned the house.  All are now dead.

It was at this point in time that the following article was published Wednesday, April 16, 1930, in the Key West Citizen: The article was entitled, "Effie Knowles Gets Write-Up in Miami Paper" and sub titled with "Former Key Wester is now practicing attorney, has many friends here and elsewhere."  The article went on "Miss Effie Knowles, formerly of this city, but who is now a practicing attorney in Miami was the subject of a personality sketch which appeared in a recent issue of a Miami newspaper.  "This article is reproduced for the benefit of Ms. Knowles many friends in this city." 

EFFIE KNOWLES FACE REVEALS QUEER MIXTURE  (by William E. Benton in Miami Daily News)

An interesting and strangely contradictory set of characteristics are revealed in a study of the face of this woman, attorney, Effie Knowles. Softeners and sympathy are mingled with strength and combative ability, rarely aroused except through an emotional appeal .  Here is a woman whose sympathies are with the downtrodden, one who, aroused by seeing a wrong done, would be capable making a strong fight for the wronged person. She would be quite capable of entering a political campaign as champion of the oppressed, and should be able to register an effective protest against injustice.  This woman would be aroused through an appeal to her emotions, rather than a discussion of the logic involved.

Now do we know these things?  Because her character is reflected as plainly as a printed page in the outline of her features as shown in the photograph. The upper part of the face is soft and sympathetic, the face of a typical home maker.  It is in the lower part of her face that the strength and courage so essential to her performance are shown. There is none of the angularity so common to most women attorneys.

The eyes, windows of the soul, tell a story of pathos and intense desire. High arched brows show the art of the colorful in art and nature.

Human understanding, a valuable asset in the business world, and good memory are shown by the high full forehead. The width between the eyes and the fullness of the temples shows appreciation of music and love of harmony.

Ms. Knowles countenance indicates she has the brain of an orator, a constructive worker, and it is in this fact that her greatest strength would lie if some emotional appeal led her into a political career. One readily can envision her as a modern Joan of Arc, leading the cause of the exploited and oppressed. Unusual in this face, is the fact that the left, or subconscious side of the countenance is more logical and shrewd than the left.

Herein lies the secret of her future success.  Most women in politics are of the "mannish" type. But Miss Knowles training came early.  Starting life with a blind mother and four brothers and sisters to care for caused for her to develop her practical side and to pass by the arts and sciences that she might have otherwise spent her talent."

This article obviously was written as some sort of tribute to Effie Knowles, written for some unknown reason.  By today's standards there are many sexist comments, and supposedly premised upon the character study of her facial features which the writer alleges provides great insights into the dimensions and strengths of Effie Knowles skills and virtues.  It is particularly ironic how Effie is, at this point in her life, apparently perceived as a champion to the downtrodden and oppressed when later in life she used her skills and genealogical knowledge to somehow convince the Bahamian Courts that hundreds of Bahamian's should be evicted from their homes and property because of her claim of right to their property through her rights as next of kin to her ancestors property which was allegedly illegally taken by people who built their homes on property they never legally owned.

Effie Knowles became a despised name in the Bahamas because of the personal devastation she brought to countless numbers of evicted Bahamian's. More on that later ... Effie joined the Department of Justice staff in 1934 as a tax lawyer during the Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt and remained there for almost 20 years.

She returned to private practice in Miami in 1953 and was an attorney for the Seminole Indian tribe for over 20 years, pursuing a celebrated land case with the Indian Claims Commission. The commission was created by Congress in 1946 and awarded more than a half billion dollars before its mandate expired in 1978. One of those awards was won by Effie Knowles.

The Seminoles in Florida are descended from a few hundred Indians who eluded capture by the US army in the 19th century.  Today, about 2,000 live on six Florida reservations - in Hollywood, Big Cypress, Brighton, Immokalee, Fort Pierce, and Tampa. And descendants of some of the so-called Black Seminoles live on Andros, at a place called Red Bays. In addition to Creek Indians from Georgia and Alabama who migrated to Florida in the 1700s, Seminoles included other Indian tribal remnants as well as runaway African slaves from southern plantations. In fact, the word Seminole means, "one who has camped out from the regular towns," or "runaway."

The Black Seminoles lived among the Indians and were closely associated with them, but they maintained a separate identity and preserved their own culture and traditions. During the Seminole wars from 1817 to 1858 some escaped to the Bahamas and others were removed with their Native American allies to Oklahoma. Only about 300 Seminoles remained in Florida, hidden in the swamps until the turn of the 20th century.

In the 1950s, there was a push among Indian tribes to organize themselves and pursue land claims and treaty obligations. This was a result of federal legislation which allowed Indian reservations to act as entities separate from the state governments within which they were located. After surviving the first half of the 20th century by farming and selling handicrafts, the Seminole tribe was officially recognized in 1957. In 1970, the Indian Claims Commission awarded the tribe $12.5 million for 32 million acres taken from them by the US army. This was the claim that Effie Knowles worked on, receiving a fee of $150,000.

Effie then turned her attention, and legal skills to her own personal situation and with the information about her own ancestry contained in her family bible, augmented with some further research, she established her family roots back to the Bahamas Islands on both her mother and father's side of the family.

An article written by Larry Smith, in the Nassau Tribune, written in 2005, sheds additional light on this portion of Effie's story. He wrote, "All of this is rich with irony, in view of Effie's efforts over many years to reclaim land taken from the Indians. According to local lawyer Bill Holowesko (who has spent years doing title research), the origin of Effie's 'estate' dates to the 1960s, when Holowesko worked for arch realtor H. G. Christie.

"Effie came into our office one day with a list of properties around the country that she claimed to own," he told Tough Call ( the name of Larry Smith's Nassau Tribune column) recently. "She had gone to the registry and simply copied all the crown grants to people in her family tree. This list keeps reappearing."

Effie was born in Florida, but her mother, Julia Dorsett, was born in the Bahamas and went to Key West as a child. There she married an American named William E. Knowles - whose father (James Alexander Knowles II) was born on Long Island in 1839 and moved to Key West. Effie's father, William, died in 1904 in Key West. But his great great grandfather was James Knowles Sr, a planter who received crown grants on Long Island before he died in 1805. Effie's maternal grandparents were Laura Nairn and Joseph B Dorsett, a salt raker on Rum Cay. Joseph's grandfather was George Dorsett, who was posted to the Bahamas by the Royal Navy from Charleston, South Carolina and died in 1783 after receiving land grants in the southern islands.

Complex chains of title have been built up from this genealogy. But since neither Effie nor her father were Bahamian, experts say she may well have forfeited any land claims by failing to pay property taxes.

"There is no doubt about the crown grants, but lots of things could have happened along the way," Holowesko said. "I told HG that she didn't own a lot of this land and he never agreed to buy anything."

The fraud charges arise from Effie's conveyance of all her Bahamian properties shortly before her death to two Americans- Raymond and Merril MacDonald. Effie never married, and some say that towards the end of her life, she rewarded the MacDonald father and son team for looking after her. In 1987, soon after her will was probated, the MacDonalds sold Effie's property to a Bahamian company called Newport Harbour Limited set up by Bill Davis, a former state senator from Arizona, and Nassau lawyer Dawson Roberts.  The price was only $180,000 for over 15,000 acres on several islands.

But meanwhile, the MacDonalds, began re-selling the estate. Many of these transactions started out with conveyances for large chunks of land at nominal prices, which the Public Treasury has accepted although realtors say they are gross under-valuations, assuming good title.

For example, just two years ago the MacDonalds conveyed 2000 acres at Rum Cay for $128,000 or $64 per acre. One-acre lots on the water at Rum Cay are selling for $100,000. And this property - together with everything else that Effie Knowles owned in the Bahamas - has apparently already been sold to Newport Harbour. And the moral of this story? All that glitters is not gold."

In total Effie Knowles laid claim to more than 15,000 acres on several Bahamian islands which generated enormous controversy in the Bahama Islands. It has been described there as "the biggest land fraud in our history". The various properties - on Long Island, Eleuthera, Rum Cay, Andros, and Cat Island, as well as about a dozen prime lots on New Providence - have become a subject of intense dispute amongst attorneys, realtors and developers...involving court cases in both Florida and the Bahamas.

According to her obituary in the Miami Herald, at one time Effie's net worth was estimated at $1 million in cash and real estate, but her health had failed and her fortune had disappeared in the years before she died. To protect any remaining assets, "Dade Circuit Court Judge Gene Williams declared her incompetent to handle her own affairs and was (about to review) the case when he received word that she had died."

Just a year before her death at Miami's North Shore Medical Centre in 1984, Effie - who never married - willed most of her estate to two "dear friends and companions", Merril and Raymond MacDonald of New Jersey. In fact, Merrill was to be buried next to her, the will said. "I have carefully considered the interests of any living relatives that I may have and it is my expressed intention and desire not to give, devise or bequeath any part of my estate to them," she declared. That estate consisted of a few thousand dollars in cash, her Miami home... and vast acreages in the Bahamas. According to family member, Jane Rowland, the MacDonalds "were drinkers, barroom fighters and always on the watch for a fast buck."

In 1987, soon after the will was probated, the MacDonald brothers sold Effie's property to a Bahamian company called Newport Harbour Limited set up by Bill Davis, a former state senator from Arizona. The price was only $180,000 for over 15,000 acres on Long Island, Eleuthera, Rum Cay, Andros, and Cat Island, as well as about a dozen prime lots on New Providence.

Nassau lawyer Dawson Roberts executed the conveyance for Davis who, however, failed to get government approval to complete the transfer. So some say the land is now effectively owned by Mr Roberts. According to one expert who has seen the documents, "Effie Knowles probably had as good a title as anyone to these properties under the circumstances, but it could just as easily be challenged."

But in the meantime, Effie's "dear friends and companions" the MacDonalds, began re-selling the estate. Many of these transactions started out with conveyances for large chunks of land at nominal prices, which the Treasury has accepted although realtor's say the land was grossly undervalued, assuming good title. For example, just two years ago the MacDonalds conveyed 2000 acres at Rum Cay for $128,000 or $64 per acre. One-acre lots on the water at Rum Cay are now selling for $100,000. And this property - together with everything else that Effie Knowles owned in the Bahamas - has apparently already been sold to Newport Harbour.

During the summer of 2004, Newport Harbour filed a writ against the MacDonalds. claiming damages for alleged "fraudulent conveyances" of land "legally and beneficially owned" by the company. It also sought a declaration that the company was the legal and beneficial owner of all of Effie Knowles' estate in the Bahamas.

According to reactor and former MP Mike Lightbourn, "the Effie Knowles saga will go down in history as one of the biggest land frauds in Bahamian history.  I have never experienced anything like this in my life where land can be marketed all over the world on the Internet and foreign buyers pay funds to an overseas attorney to buy something for which there is no title."

One of the companies the Macdonald's re-sold land to was Rum Cay Ventures, owned by Americans Michael Fothergill and Steve Sweitzer.  This company has been re-selling lots to foreign investors who may not be aware that the titles are questionable.  And there have been conflicting claims to other parts of the estate.  Fothergill was convicted of money laundering and bank fraud in Florida in 2002.

"This is an instance where foreign real estate persons have come here, without Bahamian real estate licenses, and have accepted brokerage fees contrary to the law.  On top of this, one agent in particular, has a rap sheet in the U.S.  This person should be, at the very least, on the stop list."

For a woman who played such a key role in settling historic Indian land claims in Florida, the disputed status of Effie's Bahamian estate is a fascinating controversy.

Jane Rowland, family historian and genealogist, gave the following account from her perspective as a cousin to Effie and the MacDonald's:

  "I was contacted about Effie, because Betty Bruce told them I was working on family roots.  I got called by Earl Griffin's wife. I knew it had to be family when she called me "Jane Ann." She wanted info on Effie's family. Effie was James Knowles grand daughter by his son William.  I smelled something was up so I inquired, "what was up?"... well Howard Earl McDonald and Earl had heard of her death and wanted to claim her estate. The Griffin's were kind of rough. Hannah Griffin, my grandmother's sister, was their mom. They were drinkers, barroom fighters and always on the watch for a fast buck.

I hadn't heard anything about them since my aunt Celese Puny's ex wife died.  We never had much contact with them anyway.  Well I gave what I could.... next I get a call from their lawyer.  So I got real curious and asked him questions.  He let me know about the lawsuit and of how she was bilked out of big bucks by a felon who met her driving a Taxi.  The whole family were crooks including his mom who ran the boarding house where Effie and the cab driver ended up.  He had all her person stuff. including an autographed picture of F. D. R.  I asked if there was a family Bible.  He said yes ... I said ok send me the info in there and I'll send you what you want to know.

So they did nothing, I didn't already have.  He claimed I was one generation away from making any claim on her property.  Next I get a call from a Miami Herald (reporter) with a chip on her shoulder.  She wrote several articles about Effie including her plight.  She was mad Effie's family had deserted her.  I told (her) I didn't even know she existed.  She sent me some articles on Effie's past and I called her a few times.  She called me one day and was upset because the folder she had on Effie had disappeared from her desk.  She felt some big conspiracy was happening.  Finally I called Faye Higgs, Howard (and) Earls sister and asked her about Effie. She said Effie would come to Key west every time one of the older family members died and get them to sign a release on the Knowles land in the Bahamas which according to Fay was quite a lot.  King's grants to the Knowles family.  Effie did this to most of the older members but Faye and Howard Earl when their Mom Clara died, refused to sign. So Effie bluffed and threw a huge temper fit and said she no longer claimed the family and as far as she was concerned she had no family. So you see just as the (Bible) says that which a man doth shall be recompensed upon his head. Faye said Effie accused the family of trying to steal from her while she was really stealing from them ... but it got taken from her and a proud woman, dripping with diamonds and gold according to Faye dressed in the finest money could buy, ended up in a cubby hole dressed in a man's tee shirt with a chamber pot by her bed and robbed of her money and dignity. It was a sad story full of intrigue and vice betrayal. I don't know what happened in the case both of these parties after getting what they wanted suddenly was too busy to accept my calls. Howard Earl and Faye are dead... Earl lives in Georgia; Sue sends Christmas Cards if I send one first Earl promised to send me a picture of Hannah his grandma but never has...(he) won't even tell me who his sister wed the second time.  Earl don't know nothing about nothing.  He won't talk to me ...never did...it was always Sue.  I hope to confront him one day if I ever get to go somewhere just for me."

Deceased Name: EFFIE KNOWLES, 92, SEMINOLES' LAWYER

Miami Herald, September 21, 1984, Edition: Final, Page: 4C

Effie Knowles, a retired lawyer who won a $12.5 million award for the Seminole Indians in a celebrated land claim case, died Thursday at North Shore Medical Center. She was 92.

Miss Knowles was born in Key West on March 26, 1892. She moved to Miami as a young woman, worked as a lawyer's secretary, and became a lawyer without attending law school, passing the Florida bar exam in 1926. In 1934, she moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked as a Justice Department tax lawyer. In 1953, she left the government and entered private practice.

Two years later, Miss Knowles began a 21-year legal battle on behalf of the Florida Seminoles, arguing that the federal government owed the Indian tribe for 32 million acres of land taken from them in the early 19th Century.  She won the lawsuit. The Indians received a settlement of more than $12.5 million. Miss Knowles was awarded a $150,000 fee for her efforts.

At one time, Miss Knowles' net worth was estimated at between $400,000 and $1 million in cash and real estate. In recent years, however, her health had failed and her fortune disappeared. She lived in a downtown rooming house with a retired cab driver, an alcoholic who befriended her in the 1950s.

A year ago, to protect any remaining assets, Dade Circuit Judge Gene Williams declared her incompetent to handle her own affairs.  He also appointed a guardian and ordered him to find out what had happened to her money.   Knowles' one-time lawyer, Robert Eimers, who had handled some of her finances, is now a federal fugitive in a money laundering case.  Judge Williams said Thursday that Miss Knowles' case was about to be scheduled for review when he received word that she had died.  "This whole thing is sad," Williams said.

There are no known immediate survivors. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

SERVICES WEDNESDAY FOR EFFIE KNOWLES

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