Annie Moore

Seventeen years old. From Cork. The first person to step through the new Ellis Island immigration station on the morning of January 1st, 1892. The family had lied about her age on the passenger manifest to get cheaper passage, and the New York Times reported her as fifteen. She was given a ten-dollar gold piece by an official, a silver coin by a Catholic chaplain, and a five-dollar gold piece by a stranger.

She lived the rest of her life in the Lower East Side, married Joseph Schayer who worked at the Fulton Fish Market, and had at least ten children. Five died before they were three. She died of heart failure in 1924, aged 50. Her grave in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, was unmarked until 2008.