All The Moores

Descendants Of Ellis Island's First Immigrant Undertake Effort To Create An Appropriate Gravesite Memorial

This article first appeared in the March 27th, 2007 issue of The Irish Examiner USA. It is reprinted here, in advance of the October 11th dedication of the Annie Moore Dedication in Cavalry Cemetery in Queens on Saturday October 11.

By John Mooney

A contingent of the newly discovered descendants of the first immigrant processed through Ellis Island, have announced the creation of the Annie Moore Memorial Project, which seeks to provide a proper memorial at Moore's unmarked gravesite and to honor her legacy and significance to American and Irish history. Components may include a gravesite marker, a freestanding memorial, and a dedication event.

Announced at the St. Patrick's Day Parade (2007) on Adrian Flannelly's annual radio broadcast and at the Cork Association dance later that evening, the initiative is spearheaded by two of Annie Moore's great-granddaughters, Julia Devous and Teresa Smith-DeHesus, both of Arizona.

The descendants received a warm reception wherever they went in New York. Cork Association president Dan McCarthy said the group would undertake a fund-raising effort to support the project. Additionally, several members of the family met with Tommy Ryan, owner of Annie Moore's restaurant near Grand Central, who made the first official donation to the cause.

During their visit, Devous and Smith-DeHesus also visited the Tenement Museum on the lower East Side and had a personal tour from one of the curators. They were accompanied by their mother, Pat, who married Annie Moore's grandson, Jack Smith, and their cousin, Matthew Peterson, a great-grandson on the Donovan side of the family (descendants of Annie Moore's daughter Kitty Schayer, who married Walter Donovan).

"We had never really seen a tenement building before. It was enlightening and humbling," Devous said. "We saw what the living quarters might have been like for Annie. It was dark and cramped; people in the tenement had no heating, indoor bathrooms or electricity."

Since finding out their great grandmother's identity, the sisters have grown to appreciate how far their own family has come and how hard Irish immigrants have strived to make life better for each generation. They also have been astonished by the degree of support they have received from Irish Americans.

"We're humbled by how we have been embraced and how much Annie Moore means to the Irish American community," Devous said. "We always knew we had Irish roots, but we had not participated ethnically. Now we're inspired to learn more. I'd like to take ceili dancing."

The descendants on the Smith line of the family said their dad, who passed away a decade ago, had told them his grandmother's name was Anna, but that he did not realize she was Ellis Island's first immigrant until months before his death. (Jack Smith was orphaned at a young age and moved to Chicago when he was in his thirties.) He began researching his family tree in the 1990s and contacted his cousin, Maureen Peterson, who lived in the New York area. She knew all along who her grandmother was, but had no way to prove it until last fall.

Most Irish Americans are familiar with the story of Annie Moore, who became the first immigrant to enter the U.S. through Ellis Island on January 1, 1892. Legend had it that she moved west, married and had children, became a businesswoman, and died in an accident in Texas. That was until September 2006.

Thanks to sleuthing by renowned genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and New York City's Commissioner of Records, Brian G. Andersson, they learned not only that Annie Moore lived her entire adulthood in Manhattan, but also that she now lies in an unmarked grave next to several of her children at Calvary Cemetery in Queens.

Andersson and Smolenyak Smolenyak were able to track down the descendants of Ellis Island's first immigrant, who lived in a Lower East Side tenement and probably ventured no further west than Broadway. Records kept at St. James Church show document that Annie Moore married a first generation German American named Joseph Augustus Schayer on Dec. 3, 1895. Hers was a typical immigrant story of the early 20th century-- a hard, often sad life. She buried six of her 11 children before the age of three, moved from apartment to apartment, and died at 99 Cherry St.

Commissioner Andersson located her death certificate and contacted Calvary, which is owned by Archdiocese of New York. Her unmarked grave is not far from General Michael Corcoran of the Fighting 69th, politicians Al Smith and Mayor Robert Wagner, and other Irish notables.

The energetic Devous has galvanized family members and supporters from the Irish American community nationwide to place a proper memorial at Annie Moore's final resting place.

"Everyone has been so supportive here in New York," said Julia Devous at Flannelly studios. "We hope to initiate the process of correcting the historical records that have mistaken the true identity of Annie Moore and to educate and raise awareness of the significance of her place in history."

Annie Moore's descendants married people from other backgrounds. Family members with Irish, Jewish, Italian, and Scandinavian surnames attended the press conference announcing the new findings about their ancestor. Former New York Consul General Tim O'Connor put it best: "Annie Moore's life started as an Irish story and ended as an American story."