Salt Lake Telegram | 1927-09-12 | Page 5 | Los Angeles Man Latest Claimant of Old Fortune

Los os Angeles Man Latest Claimant Of Old Fortune e William H Henry nry Knigh K ight t. t Asserts Descent From Mad Maria Marja Who Died i in n 1798 1198 PORTSMOUTH En Sept 1 12 2 I AP AP-An AP An American William Hen Henry Knight Los Angeles merchant h has has' as bobbed up among the hundreds o of T claimants for the tho estate of Maria who died here Insane In- In insane sane In 1798 Mr the fire t t Ab to lay claim to the grea great t wealth of Mad fad Marla The lis t Pt of claimants Includes persons fro from m VarIous walks of Ute life from scrubWomen scrubWomen scrub scrub- Women to lords AI Although hough Knight Is the first firs t American to get his claim med filed th the e clerk of th the chancery court at London Lon Lon- don asserts that dozens of other AmerIcans consider themselves th the e logical heirs and are preparing t to eo o claim the millions Marlas Marla's fath father was a French Franc h weaver who came to England as a Huguenot aa refugee He amassed a fortune to In his factory at Knight traces his relationship t to o AbIgail Eccles a daughter of Maria Marla He Is a cousIn of A. A C C. Mason who w wIth th his throe three all n is s reputed to be furnishing a large larg e part of the money to prosecute to e claims of his cousins cousin Among the English descendants 1 Is I. I Lord Bangor Litigation over th the e estate eloped developed when the Mason family recently reported finding documents In Saint Martins In the FIeld London which recorded the they y assert that Marta was marrIed them ther ye e and that her daughter Abigail wa was s her true and legal heir Marta Maria left only behind behin d h her r. r Because ot of her an and d lack of proof prod o of her marriage the fortune e reverted ted to the crown George III gave it to AdmIral Lord Rowe Howe of Revolutionary activity on condition restored In the event a rIghtful claimant appeared 1 Marias Maria's supposed husband Ed Edward Edard ard teas was was' Lord Howes Howe's secretary but interest interest in- in terest on the orIgInal estate for years has built It up to its present dImensions