{"id":17592,"date":"2020-10-31T09:23:18","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T13:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=17592"},"modified":"2020-10-31T09:23:18","modified_gmt":"2020-10-31T13:23:18","slug":"annie-moore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=17592","title":{"rendered":"Annie Moore"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Statue of Annie Moore and her brothers on the quayside in Cobh, Ireland (Jeanne_Rynhart)<\/figcaption><\/figure>By Jim McKeon<\/em><\/p>\n

For many years the exact background story of Annie Moore remained uncertain, with the Cork girl’s tale long confused with that of an Annie Moore who died in an accident near Fort Worth, Texas in 1923. In 2006 it was however discovered that the shy, rosy-cheeked young girl from the north side of Cork city, now immortalized in immigrant circles, took a different path. <\/p>\n

Nowadays Annie Moore is honored by two statues, one at her port of departure in Cobh and another at Ellis Island, New York, her port of arrival. Between 1892 and 1954, twelve million people passed through Ellis Island, and Annie was the first. Her image represents all those people leaving Ireland in search of the American dream. <\/p>\n

There is a house in the shadow of Cork’s Shandon Steeple, 2 Rowland’s Lane, at the top of John Redmond Street. This house has a plaque on the wall stating that Annie Moore, the first person to disembark at the newly-opened landing station on Ellis Island, once lived there. The lane itself was named after Samuel Rowland, who was the first mayor of Cork (June 6, 1787) to wear the chain of office. This same chain was later worn by martyrs, Tom\u00e1s MacCurtain and Terrence MacSwiney, and is still worn by modern day Cork lord mayors. <\/p>\n

Annie Moore’s birth certificate shows she was born in May 1874 at 154 Old Youghal Road near Collin’s Barracks on the city’s north side. Parish records indicate she was baptized, received first communion, and was later confirmed at St. Patrick’s Church, Lower Glanmire Rd. Her parents, Julie and Matthew, later headed to New York with two of their other children. Annie was left in charge of her two young brothers, Phillip and Anthony, and the trio departed Cobh on the S S Nevada bound for New York on December 20, 1891. <\/p>\n

Arriving in New York on January 1, 1892, although Annie was aged seventeen, the ship’s manifest stated she was thirteen. There may well be two reasons why she took this course of action. She may have said she was thirteen to avail of a cheaper child’s fare. However, if it was known she was seventeen, she could well have been treated as an adult and separated from her two young brothers. <\/p>\n

The passengers had to wait overnight on the Nevada before boarding three steamships. Eventually, with much whistles, foghorns and blaring bells, Annie’s ferry, the John E. Moore, dropped her at the new landing bureau. For being the first person to disembark at this new center, a Colonel Weber presented her with a ten dollar gold piece, a sizeable amount of money at that time. She said she would never part with it and would always keep it as a memento of the occasion. In a speech, the colonel emphasized the size of the new facility and proudly pointed out that it could easily handle 7,000 people in one day. <\/p>\n

The Moore trio soon joined their parents, who lived at 32 Monroe Street, and in 1895 when Annie was 21, she married a 19-year-old German, Joseph Augustus Shayer, at St James’s Church. Joseph worked at the nearby Fulton Fish Market and the couple lived in the working class Eastside all of Annie’s remaining life. <\/p>\n

Annie Moore was the mother of eleven children. Her death certificate states that she died on December 6, 1924, at 50 years of age. She is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Queens along with five of her children. By 1954, when Ellis Island closed down, some 12 million people had followed in the Cork girl’s footsteps. <\/p>\n

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