Immigrant icon gets headstone 84 years after death

THE final resting place of the first immigrant through America’s Ellis Island has at last been marked — 84 years after her death.

Annie Moore’s descendants were joined by about 300 leading Irish Americans in a New York cemetery at the weekend for an emotional unveiling of a headstone over her previously unmarked grave.

It followed the unveiling of a plaque on the O’Driscoll family home at 2 Rowland’s Lane, off Mulgrave Road in Cork city, where the Moore family lived before their departure.

On December 20, 1891, Annie Moore left Cobh, Co Cork, with her brothers, Anthony and Philip, carrying little more than her dreams.

On January 1, 1892, aged 15, she became the first recorded arrival at the emigrant centre on Ellis Island in New York Harbour.

More than 12 million people followed in her footsteps until the centre closed in 1954.

She lived a quiet life in New York’s Lower East Side, marrying Joseph Augustus Schayer, a German immigrant, and they had 10 children — though only five survived to adulthood.

She died in 1924 but her final resting place remained unknown until two years ago when it was discovered she was lying in an unmarked grave in Calvary Cemetery, in Queens.

Since then, her descendants, led by her great grand-daughter Julia Devous, have spearheaded The Annie Moore Memorial Project, to honour her memory.

It culminated with the unveiling on Saturday of a headstone over her grave, carved by Clare-based master carver Francis McCormack. It features a simple Celtic cross of Irish blue limestone and a plaque bearing the names of her five children who died young — Winifred, who died aged three months; Walter, who died aged three; Edward Raymond, who was just three days old; Harry Philip, who was three months old; and Mary Anne, who was 21. They are all buried alongside their mother.

A sixth child, James Doherty, who was 12 months old when he died, is also buried in the grave. It is understood he was the child of a friend of Annie’s.

One of Annie’s daughters, Julia Schayer, married a John Smith. One of their sons, John, who died 12 years ago, is Julia Devous’s father.

Julia, who was joined at the ceremony by her sisters, Pamela and Teresa, said they were overwhelmed.

“We were amazed at the sheer numbers of Irish Americans who attended,” she said. “It was a touching, moving, magnificent ceremony, and for the family, and all our supporters, it is just so great to finally have closure.”

Speaking yesterday as her family enjoyed a private tour of Ellis Island, she said her family is planning a trip to Cobh soon.

Among those at the ceremony were Irish tenor and New York resident Ronan Tynan, who performed Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears, the Brendan Graham song about Ellis Island and Annie Moore.