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ImmigrationProf Blog
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Immigrant of the Day: Annie Moore (Ireland)

By immigrationprof

14annie190_1 NPR reports that Annie Moore was the first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island, in 1892.  Today, she’ll finally get a marker on her grave. The Irish immigrant made a new life in America but died poor.

Annie Moore is memorialized by bronze statues in New York Harbor and Ireland and cited in story and song as the first of 12 million immigrants to arrive at Ellis Island.

The myth is that Annie Moore went west with her family to fulfill the American dream — eventually reaching Texas, where she married a descendant of the Irish liberator Daniel O’Connell and then died accidentally under the wheels of a streetcar at the age of 46.  The truth: Annie Moore settled on the Lower East Side, married a bakery clerk and had 11 children. She lived a poor immigrant’s life, but her descendants multiplied and many prospered.  For more about Annie, click here.

KJ