Moore, Annie

by Maureen Murphy

Moore, Annie (1877–1923), first immigrant to land on Ellis Island, New York, was born 1 January 1877 in Cork, second child and only daughter of Matthew and Mary Moore. The Moores emigrated to New York in 1890. Annie and her younger brothers Anthony (11) and Philip (7) left Cork on 20 December 1891. Travelling steerage aboard the Nevada, they arrived in New York on 1 January 1892, her fifteenth birthday, just in time for the opening of the new federal immigration depot at Ellis Island. Moore was the first immigrant in line to land. She was greeted by federal, state, and city dignitaries; Col. Weber, the superintendent of immigration, presented her with a ten-dollar gold piece.

Moore's parents then took Annie and her brothers to their home at 32 Monroe St. in Brooklyn. The family moved west to Indiana, and later settled in Texas, where she married and settled in Waco. She was widowed in 1919 when her husband died during the influenza epidemic. Four years later, in 1923, on her way to visit a sick brother, Annie Moore O'Connell was struck and killed by a train. She was 46.

The centenary of Ellis Island turned her into a cultural icon. The Irish American Cultural Institute (IACI) promoted the idea of making Annie Moore the symbol not only of all Irish immigrants but also of all those who have arrived at Ellis Island. Jeanne Rynhart's sculpture of the departing Moores, with Anthony pointing west and Annie looking back on Ireland, was unveiled by President Mary Robinson in 1993 at the Deepwater Quay, Cobh, Co. Cork. The statue stands just outside the Heritage Centre, a museum of the Irish emigrant experience. A companion statue, of Annie's arrival carrying her bag and holding her hat, was installed at the Ellis Island pier the same year by President Robinson. The Annie Moore award was established by the IACI in 1995 to honour an individual who has contributed significantly to the Irish American community.

The merchandising of Annie Moore followed these events. The IACI introduced the commemorative ornament series with a brass replica of the New York Rynhart statue. Belleek produced a commemorative plate called ‘The first sight of Miss Liberty’; the edition sold out immediately. Students of popular culture Susan Kelly and Stephen Morton created a mixed media installation, ‘Calling up Annie Moore’. The Irish Tenors' Ellis Island concert (March 2001) featured a ballad about her, ‘Isle of Hope, isle of tears’. The refrain in another Annie ballad, ‘Immigration island’ by Tim Sparling and Allen Werneken, includes the line: ‘You're the first across this island, to a new land, Annie Moore’. An Annie Moore doll comes with the poem ‘Grandma Annie’ that explains the significance of the heirloom gold coin.

Eithne Loughrey has written a series of three young adult novels that trace Annie's life in America: Annie Moore: first in line for America (1999), Annie Moore: the golden dollar girl (2000), and Annie Moore: New York city girl (2001). Eve Bunting's Dreaming of America (2000) is another account of Annie's arrival written for the young reader.

Annie married (1898) Patrick O'Connell, a descendant of Daniel O'Connell (qv); they had five surviving children. Her daughter attended the opening of the Ellis Island Genealogical Center and presented the Center with a ten-dollar bill, symbolic of the ten-dollar gold piece that was given to her mother. A photograph of Annie and her daughter Mary Catherine is in Edward O'Donnell's ‘Annie Moore arrives’.