Today In History: Jan. 1 1892

Ellis Island opened for business. The first immigrant of millions to pass through was a 15 year old Irish girl from County Cork named Annie Moore. Three large ships waited to land on that day, and eventually 700 immigrants entered the country on that first day. Annie Moore was given a 10 dollar gold piece, and welcomed to America.

I found this animated image on The History Channel – a view of Ellis Island from the boats, as they approached. Kinda gives me chills – imagining that this is the view my ancestors got, as they came over from Ireland. This is what they saw.

To those of you who ever visit New York – I highly recommend taking a trip over to Ellis Island. It’s strangely emotional – you just can feel the ghosts of the millions of people who passed through. They are all still there. Here’s an image of the Inspection Room – where each immigrant would be screened by doctors for any signs of illness, physical ailments, disease. This was also where their documents would be checked and double-checked. If they were healthy, and if their papers were correct – they would then be allowed to enter the United States.

And so today, let’s take a second to remember Annie Moore, the 15 year old Irish girl, the first name on the long long rolls of immigrant records at Ellis Island. There’s a statue of Annie Moore at Ellis Island – a bronze statue – which was unveiled by Ireland’s president Mary Robinson in 1993.

Here’s some more information about Annie Moore. My favorite excerpt from that piece comes at the end:

So what’s really important about Annie Moore is not so much that she was born in Ireland, but that she came to America. Someone had to be the first immigrant to land at Ellis Island and as fate would have it she was the one. It might just as easily been someone named Rebecca Schimkowitz or Maria Parmasano. In somewhat the same spirit of commemorating an Unknown Soldier as a symbol of patriotic sacrifice, the story and statues of Annie Moore are intended to remind people of this and future generations of the courageous journey made by countless millions of nameless, faceless immigrants who set out to make a new life for themselves in a strange and distant place called America.

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7 Responses to Today In History: Jan. 1 1892

  1. Just1Beth says:

    You HAVE to listen to the song, “Isle of Hope” by the Three Irish Tenors. It brings chills to me whenever I hear it. Find it and listen to it, ok???

  2. red says:

    I actually have one of their concerts on CD – let me see if it’s on there.

  3. Ken Summers says:

    My Irish immigrant ancestor came before Ellis Island opened. He was also from County Cork.

  4. Hi Sheila – actually that building you show is the Immigration Inspection Station as it appeared after it was built to replace the woodframe buildings that had existed at the time Annie Moore first stepped onto Ellis Island. I know this because a few years back I was researching what the process was between 1892 – 1897 and bought a lovely book from the NY Library detailing that time period. The woodframe station went up in flames for mysterious reasons, although they do suspect that it may have started with rags or material left by workers. Anyway, Ellis Island is definitely one of those places I would love to visit should I make it up that way.

    My grandmother’s name is on the Wall of Honor. She was brought over from Seren di Grappa, Italy (near Parma) as a baby.

  5. Im sorry, my fingers got carried away – was going to say that the station in the picture you posted was the “New and Improved BRICK and NON-FLAMMABLE” version of the station, finished in 1900 and is the building that experienced the most volume of immigration.

  6. Laura says:

    We went to Ellis Island a couple years ago and it was absolutely fascinating. I loved the display of old artifacts and luggage collected. Truly an amazing place. The time we went they had a small exhibit on 9/11 from the viewpoint of Ellis Island employees, what they saw and experienced, which was very interesting.

  7. red says:

    Sharon –

    Thank you!! I did not know that!

    If you do end up coming – make sure you see the “movie”. They have a tiny cinema over there, and they show a short film about the history of Ellis Island – I think it’s narrated by Gene Hackman. I just wanted to say that the film is SO worth seeing – the old footage, the blurry home movie-esque view of things – but also the information given is really interesting. Just wanted to throw that in there – because I know films like that can have a tendency to be cheesy or not well done – but this one is very good.

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