The Effie Knowles Saga

by Larry Smith

This is a story about unusual Bahamian connections...a tale that begins in the 18th century and still spins today. A story about Indians, lawyers and land sharks...and a glimpse of the life of one little-known woman of Bahamian descent who made good in the United States, but left open a pandora's box of island intrigue.

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Florida lawyer Effie Knowles is something of a celebrity in Bahamian real estate and legal circles these days, although she has been dead for 20 years and few people have ever heard of her.

Her parents were Bahamian emigres. She was born in Key West in 1892 and died in Miami in 1984 at the ripe old age of 92. Her grandfather – James Alexander Knowles was born on Long Island in 1839 and moved to Key West. Florida did not become a US territory until 1821 and for a long time Bahamians looked on the Keys as northern Out Islands.

At the height of the Depression, the 1930 census puts Effie living with her widowed mother (Julia), two sisters (Laura and Beatrice) and a brother (William) in Miami. All five were described as white and literate, and Effie - a lawyer - owned the house. All are now dead.

But their legacy lives on - a legacy that stretches back to the earliest land grants in the Bahamas. In fact, Effie’s claim to more than 12,000 acres on several Bahamian islands has generated enormous controversy lately, with some describing transactions involving this estate as “the biggest land fraud in our history”.

Effie's mother (Julia Dorsett) was from Nassau, where both of her parents were born. Julia went to Key West as a child and married William E. Knowles, an American whose father was from Long Island. When Julia died in 1956 at the age of 91, the Miami Herald described her as a Florida “pioneer”.

Effie’s father died in 1904 in Key West. But his great great grandfather was James Knowles Sr, another prominent loyalist planter who received extensive crown grants on Long Island before his death in 1805.

On her mother's side, Effie’s grandparents were Laura Nairn and Joseph B Dorsett, a salt raker on Rum Cay. Joseph’s grandfather was George Dorsett, a privateer from Charleston, South Carolina who died in 1783 after receiving land grants in the southern Bahamas.

Complex chains of title have been built up from this genealogy. And the various properties - on Long Island, Eleuthera, Rum Cay, Andros, and Cat Island, as well as about a dozen prime lots on New Providence – are a subject of intense dispute amongst attorneys, realtors, developers and buyers...involving court cases in both Florida and the Bahamas.

But since neither Effie nor her father were Bahamian citizens, experts say she may well have forfeited any land claims simply by failing to pay property taxes. 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 said recently. “She had gone to the registry and simply copied all the crown grants to people in her family tree. This list keeps reappearing.

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

And all of this controversy is rich with irony in view of Effie’s efforts over many years to reclaim Florida land for the Seminole Indians. Effie became a lawyer in 1926 and joined President Franklin Roosevelt’s Department of Justice in 1934. She returned to private practice in Miami in 1953 and retired in the 1970s.

In her private practice she was an attorney for the Seminole 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 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. And descendents of some of the so-called Black Seminoles live on Andros, at a place called Red Bays.

In 1970, the Indian Claims Commission awarded the Seminoles $12.5 million for 32 million acres taken from them during the Seminole wars. This was the claim that Effie Knowles worked on, receiving a fee of $150,000.

From here the story gets more complicated. According to her obituary in the Miami Herald, Effie's health had failed and her fortune had faded in her final years - to the extent that a Dade County judge declared her incompetent just before she died.

But a year before her death at Miami’s North Shore Medical Centre in 1984, Effie – who never married - supposedely willed most of her estate to two “dear friends and companions”, Merril and Raymond MacDonald of New Jersey. In fact, Merrill - a taxi driver - 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,” the will declared. That estate consisted of a few thousand dollars in cash, her Miami home... and vast acreages in the Bahamas.

In 1987, soon after the will was probated, the MacDonald father and son team sold Effie’s property to a Bahamian company called Newport Harbour Limited set up by Bill Davis, a former state senator from Arizona, through Nassau lawyer Dawson Roberts. The price was only $180,000 for thousands of acres on several islands.

But Davis failed to get government approval to complete the transfer. So some say the land reverted to Mr Roberts, although the title remains questionable. 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.”

In the meantime, 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 Bahamian government accepted although realtors 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 $250,000. And this property – together with everything else that Effie Knowles owned in the Bahamas - has ostensibly already been sold to Newport Harbour.

So in 2004, Newport Harbour filed a writ against the MacDonalds for alleged "fraudulent conveyances" of land "legally and beneficially owned" by the company. But the sales continued as the luxury property market in the Bahamas heated up.

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

According to realtor and former member of parliament Mike Lightbourn, “the Effie Knowles saga will go down 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 an overseas attorney to buy something for which there is no title.”

And for a woman who played such a key role in settling historic Indian land claims in Florida, the disputed status of Effie’s sometime Bahamian estate is a fascinating tale of geneaology, greed, intrigue and government incompetence.

Comments

[Michael Fothergill]

Your Article is full of inaccuracies about Effie Knowles, I will in time provide you supportting data that proves this. Another fact ommitted from your Story is NewPort Harbour Limited in a settlement agreement gave its interests to Several Companies. Michael Fothergill and Steven Sweitzer own zero property in the Bahamas. They are both only marketers for Bahamians. Simply go to the Companies Registrar and see who really owns most of the Effie Knowles Estate. That would be primarily Carl Bethel, Alfered and Jerry Colebrooke,and several other Bahamians. Please print facts and not fallacy. please Correct your inaccurate statement of Steven Sweitzer and Michale Fothergill owning any Bahamina Land.

You may email me at rumcay@bellsouth.net or call me at 954 818-1183. I will direct you in finding facts and not propaganda.

Michael Fothergill

[larry smith]

I m not so sure about the "inaccuracies". And it is illegal for foreigners to sell Bahamian land without a license. The legal to and fro on the Effie Knowles "estate" is complex and multi-faceted, but what I have presented here is a reasonable summary after reviewing documents and interviewing experts. I would be happy to receive any new information.

[Michael Fothergill]

Rum Cay Ventures employs the services of Bahamian Realtors to sell real estate.

[Michael Fothergill]

To correct the above summary of the Effie Knowles Estate. New Port Harbour Limited was legally arm twisted into settling the writ that was filed, Newport Harbour Limited was never owned by an American the stock holders were all Bahamians made up of E. Dawson Roberts and his employees.
The conveyance from referenced above in Larry Smiths story in 1987 to Newport Harbour Limited (not Billy Wayne Davis)from the Macdonald's was invalid as Macdonalds did not own the Effie Knowles estate at that time in 1987 it was still in the possession of the Probate Court in Miami Dade Florida.

The value of the Land within the Effie Knowles Estate was literally zero due to all the claims and clouds that were attached to the title of all the land within the Estate. This was the major factor in why the Land was conveyed at such low prices. The government gained huge amounts of stamp duty on the resales. The cost of litigation in clearing the Titles mentioned within Larry Smiths above column exceeded over 4 million dollars just between Newport Harbour Limited and the multiple plaintiffs.

The expert calling the Effie Knowles Estate the biggest land Fraud in the History of the Bahamas was previously quoted in the above column was realtor Michale Lightbourn. Michael Lightbourns relatives are faced with future litigation involving land within the Estate of Effie Knowles, this is why such derogatory comments about the Effie Knowles Estate

[larry smith]

Newport Harbour is a Bahamian company that Bahamian lawyer Dawson Roberts set up for Billy Davis, a former preacher and Republican senator in the Arizona state legislature who has been in financial trouble with the law on many occasions in several states.

The object of the company was to hold the thousands of acres that Effie Knowles "owned" and that Davis had supposedly acquired. Roberts and the employees of his law firm were nominee shareholders acting for Davis, who was their client.

Whatever land disputes Lightbourn's relatives are or are not involved in have nothing to do with the substantive issue here - which is the sale of Bahamian land without good title to unsuspecting foreigners.

[Michael Fothergill]

Many Parties are in dispute of the Claims of Effie Knowles. These disputes boil down to which party has the stongest claim. Claims and adverse claims to land are decided in The Judicial System of the Bahamas, such as the Supreme Court of the Bahamas, and not by newspapers, realtors, or other parties driven by self interests casting propaganda to disparge title to land. Ultimately a Bahamian Judge will have the last say as to who has the strongest claim to any disputed land title in the Bahamas

[Mike Lightbourn]

He seems to be accepting he has no title.

[Michael Fothergill]

Rather presumptuous statement when many transactions within this estate have been transacted by reputable Bahamian lawyers.

[Allen Kersch, CPA]

In your article, in paragraph 5 you state that: "with some describing transactions involving this estate as "the biggest land fraud in our history." Whithout describing who these mysterious "some" are.

In paragraph 10 you Again state: "experts say she may well have forfeited any land claims simply by failing to pay property taxes." without describing whom these alleged "expert's" are; What are they experts in; or who determined that they are in fact qualified "experts."

In quoting Holowesko you quote: "There is no doubt about the crown grants, but lots of things could have happened along the way," Any thing COULD HAVE happened with any property any where in the world. Tell the readers what DID happen. Not what COULD HAVE happened.

In one later paragraph you write: "So SOME SAY (with out describing whom these 'some' are) the land is now effectively owned by Mr Roberts, although the title remains questionable. According to one expert (AGAIN, WHO IS THIS SO CALLED EXPERT, WHAT IS HE AN EXPERT IN, ETC.) 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."
Any property anywhere in the world COULD be challanged.

Next you write: 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. Without stating whom bought the property nor the realtionship between seller and buyer. Is it an arms-lenght transaction or are you suggesting insider trading. Who is to say that buying 2000 acres of undeveloped unsurved land in one wholesale transaction is not as fair as breaking the land into individual waterfront acres. When you buy 2000 acres, I am certain only a tiny percentage of that is Waterfront.
How many lineal feet were waterfront?

Fianlly, what is Lightbourn interest and agenda in this dispute?

Please answer some of these obvious questions to make your story more credible.

Thank you. A potential investor who is not dissuaded.

[larry smith]

If you look at the penultimate paragraph, you will see the first quote you cite attributed to a leading local realtor and former MP. Other realtors and lawyers have said the same thing to me.

The second quote you refer to is also attributed later to a leading local property lawyer who has specialised in title research for decades.

Your third citation is from a lawyer who is intimately connected to the whole process and who does not want to be identified.

Yes, who is to say about the land value?

My view (as an independent observer who happened upon this story by stages) is that the so-called 'Lightbourn agenda' is a red herring. The point is that foreign buyers are being sold something that does not have good title.

[Allan Kersch, CPA]

Yo ur response is a vague as your article. Leading Realtors, leading lawyers, dosen't anyone have a name? And what makes them "leading"? Thank you for your prompt response and please let me know.
Additionally, if I as a foreigner buy five acres of property, in an arms lenght transaction, paying fair market value, pay the appropriate Stamp duty and properly register it with the government registry, would I not then get the best title to the land? Please let me know?
Allen Kersch

[larry smith]

As I said, the names are provided in the article (except for those who requested anonymity). You can contact the Bar Association or the Bahamas Real Estate Association for references. I have personal knowledge of these individuals.

As for title, this is a vexing issue in the Bahamas for historical and sociocultural reasons that may be the subject of a future article. However, you can't buy good title to land that doesn't have good title. It may work out in the wash, but then again it may not.

This is a very complex situation with lots of different groups claiming the same land and deals being cut as we speak. It needs to be resolved by the courts, but you will have to wait a while for that.

Meanwehile, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

[Michael Fothergill]

Larry Smith references in his historical chronolgy above that Attorney William Holowesko stated "Effie Knowles did not own a lot of land". Mr. Holowesko has a vested interest in disparaging the Estate of Effie Knowles as he represents Charles Moree and Archie Moree against a Bahamian owned Company that gained title from the Effie Knowles Estate, in General Jurisdiction Case number 2003/CLE/GEN/0081 in the Supreme Court of the Bahamas. It should also be noted Mr. Holowesko has not produced one single document in support of his clients claims in over three years, even after Registrar requirements directed him to produce an affidavit of documents within 14 days on July 13, 2004 by order of the Court. Holowesko's clients the Moree's may have a 14% claim in the land in question, but as Mr. Holowesko states many things happen over the years. Does any one who reads this think Mr. Holowesko has a slanted interest in disparaging the Effie Knowles Estate. Another interesting fact H. G. Christie's son and current owner or operator of H. G. Christie Real Estate Peter Christie, represented Effie Knowles in a probate case involving land in the Supreme Court of the Bahamas in Case no 211 of 1962 and won on behalf of Effie Knowles, the loosing and opposing Counsel was none other than the Law Firm of McKinney Bancroft of which Michael Lightbourn's brother Richard Lightbourn is a Partner in the firm. I wil post on this blog another statement of fact as to why the Lightbourn's discount and speak in such poor terms about the Effie Knowles Estate tomorrow. I will also post an abstract that shows how foolish a statement "complex titles have been created to support the Land Claims of Effie Knowles

[Cliff]

I have just today the 15th of April, returned from Rum Cay. After spending over a week there discovered that the property that we bought from Mike Fothergill two years ago, is being divided up into sections by Billy Wayne Davis and a D-8 Caterpillar. He has also destroyed and removed many many of the historic boundry walls that have been in place since the slaves built them stone by stone centuries ago. I counted 15 destroyed walls in a short ride.

I agree that we need to sort out all the legal issues of ownership ASAP - but more importantly we really need to stop a person who has no regard for anyone's property or the historical value of the island.

He bulldozed a 40' road in the middle of our property and another 20' road down the side. He also has a section that he has cleared that goes right down onto the beach. In making this clearing he took the historical boundary wall, piled it up and has slash & burned numerous tree's that are protected by the endangered species act in Florida.(Lignumvitae)He has blocked the Kings Highway in three places in an effort to prevent anyone from accessing the area or the beach and witness what is occuring. He is actually dozing Crown land without any regard for the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

I spoke to Mr. Davis last Sunday by phone in an attempt to find out if he was indeed plowing through what we understood was the plot that we had purchased a couple of years ago.

He denied that he had agreed that the property that was purchased from Mike Fothergill was legitimately purchased and conveyable. He further said that he had sold it again. I then read to him verbatim the signed document that he signed and initialed on each page with all the parties involved including Fothergill, Sweitzer, Davis, and several lawyers and witnesses. He became very upset and threatened to have me thrown in jail if I set foot on Monroe Beach. He actually did call the police, they came to the house I was staying at looking for me. I wasn't there, but they contacted me by phone and I went in the next day for a good long chat.

During my phone conversation with Billy Davis he also said that he would never honor any agreement to the other parties, because he had not received other valuable concerns that were promised. In the document it was a ten dollar exchange. He said that it was the 3 million judgement for his previous questionable activities that Mike Fothergill possesed that he really wanted.

He furthermore indicated that he had bought an airline in Florida and he was setting up regular schedules to Rum Cay for future customers. I checked on the status of his 135 certificate, and it was non-existent.

The local Bahamians on the island are furious about Billy Davis.

People like Billy Davis are making Americans look like very bad people. Maybe the US government should step in and try to stop this person that obviously thinks he is above the law in both countries.

[larry smith]

OK, I am calling a halt to this namecalling - I think you have exhausted the topic. And you have both aptly demonstrated the main point of my article - which is that much of the land on Rum Cay that everyone is trying to sell to unsuspecting buyers is hotly contested. I will delete any further insulting posts.