A "Rosy-Cheeked Irish Girl" Makes History

Though Irish immigration peaked during the mid-19th century, thousands of Irish immigrants still flooded the shores of the East Coast. The end of the 19th century saw a drastic change and reform in the ways of immigration. That change was the establishment of the first Federal immigration depot located at the port of Ellis Island in New York Harbor (1). Rather than individual states regulating immigration into the United States, there was now an official port for immigrants to be processed by officials.

Ellis Island circa 1892

When the doors to Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892, the first immigrant to enter the United States was not a man, despite their domination of immigrant history; rather, it was a 15 year old Irish girl named Annie Moore (2). Alongside her two younger brothers, Moore was preselected to be the first immigrant to be processed and undergo the routine medical examination. After being deemed "morally and physically fit for America", Moore's name was the first entered into the registry book and she was presented with a ten dollar gold piece by the immigration commissioner, John B. Weber, to commemorate the occasion (3).

The story of Annie Moore's arrival made headlines in the New York Times. Referred to as a "rosy-cheeked Irish girl" (4), Moore was recognized for being the first immigrant to be processed in the newsworthy Ellis Island, not for her courageousness for traveling across the Atlantic by herself at a young age while simultaneously caring for her younger brothers. Her endurance of her trip across the Atlantic was a testimony to not only her strength, but also to the strength and determinism of the millions of women that both preceded and followed her. Passengers, often referring to their ships as "coffin ships", were forced to endure filthy, disease ridden, cramped quarters, in which the mortality rate of those on board was incredibly high due to the poor conditions (5). Regardless of the unavoidable conditions, men and women made the trip to America. These conditions would have been difficult enough to survive alongside family members, yet countless single women made the trip alone, unsupported and unsupervised.

Leaving the comforts of her Ireland home, Moore left for America to meet her parents who had immigrated there a few short years before Moore and her brothers arrived in America, proving that the decision to immigrate was often out of the hands of women and was a result of outside circumstances, such as the decision of men to transport their families across the ocean, as was the case with Moore (6). Female Irish immigrants, particularly single female immigrant, may have appeared to have "voluntarily" left their homes for America, but the reality was that men and a poor Irish economy were the push and pull factors that made the "decision" for women to leave Ireland no decision at all.

Moore personifies the risk single Irish immigrant women were willing to take by coming to America. Irish men also risked their lives and livelihood, but Moore's story represents the potential hardships that were unique to the female Irish immigrant's narrative. By traveling unsupervised or under the protection of a man, Moore faced possible sexual harassment and danger at the hands of men, both during her travels as well as upon her arrival. It was not uncommon for women to be, "...subject to all types of enticements into brothels on their arrival in America" (7). For single women without contacts in America, unlike Moore who was meeting her family, they faced possible, nearly immediate, danger in their new home and culture. Having nowhere to go, coupled with the necessity and desire for money to support themselves, led women to take jobs out of desperation that did not pay well, resulting in a high number of prostitutes and jobless women, as well as women living in squalor.

Annie Moore's story has been immortalized in various ways, proving the importance that both immigration and women contributed to this country. Two bronze statues have been erected in her honor; one single statue of Moore located at Ellis Island and another, depicting Moore and her brothers at Cobh, Ireland, the port of their departure.

To further commemorate Annie Moore, as well as the opening of Ellis Island, Brendan Graham wrote the song "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears" in 2001.



Image Sources:

"Ellis Island circa 1892". Ellis Island. "Ellis Island- History". Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_history.asp. 

Annie Moore Statue. Ellis Island. "Irish Immigrant Annie Moore First to Pass Through Ellis Island". Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/Annie_Moore.asp. 

Sources:

1. Ellis Island. "Ellis Island- History". http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/ellis_island_history.asp. 
2. Kraut, Alan M. "Illness and Medical Care Among Irish Immigrants in Antebellum New York". In The New York Irish. Edited by Ronald H. Bayor and Timothy J. Meagher. Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1996, 153. 
3. Anonymous. "Landed On Ellis Island New Immigration Buildings Opened Yesterday". New York Times. January 2, 1892. Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/Annie_Moore.asp. 
4. Ibid. 
5. Phalen, William. "The Stalwart Ladies: Nineteenth Century Female Irish Emigrants to the United States". Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, 92, 2003, 185. 
6. Anonymous. "Landed On Ellis Island New Immigration Buildings Opened Yesterday". New York Times. January 2, 1892. Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.ellisisland.org/genealogy/Annie_Moore.asp. 
7. Jackson, Pauline. "Women in 19th Century Irish Emigration". International Migration Review, 18, 1984, 1016.