Anna "Annie" Moore (April 24, 1874 – December 6, 1924) was an Irish émigré who was the first immigrant to the United States to pass through federal immigrant inspection at the

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

station in New York Harbor. Bronze statues of Moore, created by Irish sculptor

Jeanne Rynhart Jeanne Patricia Rynhart (17 March 1946 – 9 June 2020) was an Irish sculptor and creator of the Molly Malone statue. Background Rynhart was born Jeanne Scuffil in Dublin on 17 March 1946. Her parents were Kathleen Connolly and Frederick Scuf ...

, are located at Cobh in Ireland and Ellis Island.

Immigration

Moore arrived from

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns a ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, aboard the

Guion Line The Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Company, known commonly as the Guion Line, was a British passenger service that operated the Liverpool-Queenstown-New York route from 1866 to 1894. While incorporated in Great Britain, 52% of the company ...

steamship ''Nevada'' in 1892. Her brothers, Anthony and Philip, who journeyed with her, had just turned 15 and 12, respectively. As the first person to pass inspection at the newly opened facility, she was presented with an American $10 gold piece from an American official.

Family

Moore's parents, Matthew and Julia, had come to the United States in 1888 and were living at 32 Monroe Street in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. Annie married a son of German Catholic immigrants, Joseph Augustus Schayer (1876–1960), a salesman at Manhattan's

Fulton Fish Market The Fulton Fish Market is a fish market in Hunts Point, a section of the New York City borough of the Bronx, in New York, United States. It was originally a wing of the Fulton Market, established in 1822 to sell a variety of foodstuffs and p ...

, with whom she had about eleven children. She died of heart failure on December 6, 1924 at age 50 and is buried in

Calvary Cemetery, Queens Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery in Maspeth and Woodside, Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. With about three million burials, it has the largest number of interments of any cemetery in the United States. Established ...

. Her previously unmarked grave was identified in August 2006. On October 11, 2008, a dedication ceremony was held at Calvary which celebrated the unveiling of a marker for her grave, a Celtic Cross made of Irish Blue Limestone. She had 11 children of whom five survived to adulthood, and three of them had children. The rest all died before the age of three.

Mistaken identity

A woman named "Annie Moore" who died near

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...

, in 1924 had long been thought to be the one whose arrival marked the beginning of Ellis Island. Further research, however, established that the Annie Moore in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

was born in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Legacy

Annie Moore is honored by two statues sculpted by

. One stands near Cobh Heritage Centre (formerly Queenstown), her port of departure, and another at Ellis Island, her port of arrival. The image is meant to represent the millions who passed through Ellis Island in pursuit of the American dream. Annie Moore's life also inspired the song "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears", which was written by Brendan Graham after visiting

. The song has been performed by

Ronan Tynan Ronan Tynan (born 14 May 1960) is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete. He was a member of The Irish Tenors re-joining in 2011 while continuing to pursue his solo career since May 2004. In the United States, audiences know him ...

The Irish Tenors The Irish Tenors are a singing trio from Ireland that was started in 1998 by a group of television producers for a PBS special ''The Irish Tenors''. They have since recorded five PBS specials and eight albums. The group's members are Declan ...

, Sean Keane,

Dolores Keane Dolores Keane (born 26 September 1953) is an Irish folk singer and occasional actress. She was a founding member of the group De Dannan and has since embarked on a solo career. Background Keane was born in a small village called Sylane (near ...

Daniel O'Donnell Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell, MBE (born 12 December 1961) is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist. After rising to public attention in 1983, he has since become a household name in Ireland and Britain; he has also had co ...

, Celtic Thunder, Celtic Woman, Tommy Fleming and

The High Kings The High Kings is an Irish folk group formed in Dublin in 2008. The band consists of Finbarr Clancy, Brian Dunphy, Darren Holden, and Paul O'Brien. As of 2020, the group had released five studio albums, four live albums, and two live DVDs, an ...

. Things named in honour of Moore include the Annie Moore Award, presented annually by the

Irish American Cultural Institute The Irish American Cultural Institute (IACI) is an American cultural group founded in Saint Paul, Minnesota by Dr. Eoin McKiernan in 1962. The group's purpose is to promote an intelligent appreciation of Ireland and the role and contributions o ...

, a utility vessel operated for the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

, and a software program developed at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, Lund University in Sweden, and the University of Oxford in Britain which uses a "matching algorithm" to allocate refugees with no ties to the host country to their new homes.

Gallery

Annie Moore Statue by by Jeanne Rynhart, Cobh.jpg, Statue of Annie Moore and her brothers on the quayside in

Cobh, Ireland Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour a ...

. Annie Moore Arrival.jpg, Annie Moore's Passenger Arrival at Ellis Island in 1892. Annie Moore grave marker.jpg, Grave marker for Annie Moore at

, New York, US.

References

External links

A Ticket to History - Famous passengers
on the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation website
"Irish Immigrant First To Pass Through Ellis Island"
from the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation website (archived 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Annie People from the Lower East Side People from County Cork 1874 births 1924 deaths Ellis Island Irish emigrants (before 1923) to the United States Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens) Catholics from New York (state)