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Waco History Project: Ellis Island ’s Annie

http://www.wacohistoryproject.org/Moments/EllisIsland.htm

Moments in Time Ellis Island ’s Annie By Terri Jo Ryan, Tribune-Herald staff writer March 12, 2007

Until six months ago, Waco could claim one of the most famous Irish immigrants in American history as its own. Let’s call this saga The Tale of Two Annies. When 14-year-old Annie Moore of County Cork, Ireland, descended the gangplank of the steamship S.S. Nevada on Jan. 1, 1892, as the first of 700 immigrants arriving that day at the brand-new processing station at Ellis Island, she was swept away on the arms of dignitaries. Hustled past patriotic bunting of red, white and blue, amid the celebratory din of bells and steamer whistles, young Annie was awarded a $10 gold coin before she and her two younger brothers were reunited with their parents, Matthew and Julia Cronin Moore, who had immigrated to New York City three years earlier. From there, she seemed to disappear into the mists of time. She was found almost 20 years ago, as researchers preparing for the dedication of the renovated Ellis Island facilities which were turned into a national museum of immigration uncovered a tale that was, alas, too good to be true. The story they spun was like something out of the movies: the red-haired colleen’s reunited family moved first to Illinois, they said, then Texas, where Annie met and married Irish-American Patrick O’Connell and had five children. The family moved from Waco, to West Texas and eventually to Clovis, N.M., where Patrick O’Connell died in October 1918 in the great flu epidemic. The story’s tragic close came on Aug. 29, 1923, when the 46-year-old Annie was killed. As she was traveling between Fort Worth and Dallas (a trip to visit her brothers, it was said), she was struck by the InterUrban, one of the earliest rapid transit trains connecting the two cities. She was buried with her late husband in St. Martin’s Cemetery in Tours, near West. But certain details of the accepted saga continued to trouble genealogist Megan Smolenyak. Smolenyak, who began researching Moore’s roots in 2002 for a PBS special on immigration. The document trail for Texas Annie Moore continued to point to a woman born to Irish immigrant parents in Illinois, not in Ireland. So she offered a $1,000 reward last summer to entice other family history sleuths to help her find the right Annie Moore. It took just six weeks for a group of passionate genealogists from around the country to uncover the truth, and the results were announced in September 2006. Ellis Island’s Annie actually never left New York’s Lower East Side, the group learned. Annie lived with her parents for a few years at 32 Monroe St. in Manhattan before marrying a German immigrant, Joseph Augustus Schayer Sr., in 1895 at nearby St. James Catholic Church. He was working at the Fulton Street Fish Market when they met, and was a bakery clerk for a time. The couple had at least 11

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Waco History Project: Ellis Island ’s Annie

http://www.wacohistoryproject.org/Moments/EllisIsland.htm

children, only five of whom survived to adulthood. Three of them had children of their own. Annie Moore Schayer died of heart failure on Dec. 6, 1924, at age 47. She was buried with six of her children in an unmarked grave at Calvary Cemetery in Queens. Her descendants last fall announced plans to place a headstone on the grave site lost to history for eight decades. So how did the mix-up occur? In her blog, MegansRootsWorld.blogspot.com, Smolenyak said that although there was clearly no malicious intent to deceive, what happened is that a family fell prey to an elderly relative’s fanciful tale Ñ an innocent exaggeration that morphed into indisputable family lore. Over time, this now-deceased woman’s wishful thinking claimed more victims, as folks simply accepted her version of reality as truth without questioning it. In recent weeks, Smolenyak was back in the news, announcing that the Rev. Al Sharpton’s great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton, was owned by a family related to the late Sen. Strom Thurmond. Smolenyak is North American chief of Ancestry.com, and a prolific author of genealogical texts. Sources: The Texas Collection at Baylor University; Bernadine Rice, American Irish Historical Society; IrishConnectionsMag.com, ConnorsGenealogy.com, IrishNews.com, Handbook of Texas Online and IrishEcho.com.

Back to Moments in Time To top

For more information, contact: John Young • Waco Tribune-Herald •

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Annie's Family

http://www.witsend.org/gen/AnnieMoore/Annies_Family.htm

Chronological Summary and Mapping Key

When

Family

X A

1892 1900

B

1900

C

1907

Joseph Schayer, 24 Annie, 23 Catherine, 2 Joseph, 1 ?? Possible family ?? Matthew, Julia, Cornelius, Mary, & Annie Moore Matthew Moore

D

1915

Julia Moore (wid Matthew)

E F F F

1918 1918 1918 1920

E

1920

E

1922

G

1925 1930

1933

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Who

Philip Moore (mother Julia) Joseph Schayer, Sr. (wife Anna) Joseph Schayer, Jr. (mother Anna) Joseph Schayer, 43 Anna, 42 Joseph, 20 Theo, 18 Julia, 16 Mary, 5 Julia Moore, 70 Philip, 30 Julia Cronin Moore (died 1927) Philip Moore, clk Philip Moore, 47 Tillie, 38 Annie, 4y, 8m Annie Lund, 74 Philip Moore, clk (Tillie)

Where

Source

32 Monroe 92 New Chambers

Newspaper Census

382 Water

Census

2 James Slip 93 Oliver

Death Certificate City Directory (also state census)

5 Batavia 99 Cherry 99 Cherry 99 Cherry

WWI draft card WWI draft card WWI draft card Census

5 Batavia

Census

5 Batavia

Death Certificate

83 Madison

City Directory

691 Coney Island, Brooklyn

Census

1049 Coney Island, Brooklyn

City Directory

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Annie's Family

http://www.witsend.org/gen/AnnieMoore/Annies_Family.htm

Compare early map above to 2006. See also this 1866 map of the 4th Ward. Notes: If the 1900 census with Matt, Julia, and 3 children is the right family, the information was probably given by a neighbor. (see also Irish Birth Records) In 1880, Joseph Schayer is living at 5 Batavia [E]. His father is still there in 1900. In 1910 and 1920, Tillie Lund, who later married Philip, is living at 5 Batavia [E].

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32 Monroe St

http://www.witsend.org/gen/AnnieMoore/32_monroe_st.htm

32 Monroe St., New York, NY Today, 32 Monroe St. [A] is between the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge (built in 1906). At the corner of Monroe and Catherine, [B] on the map, is the Catholic church known as St. Joseph or St. Joachim Italian. (5 Monroe St., New York, NY 10002. 212-233-5152)

The red arrow shows the vantage of the picture below. Early map of same area.

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32 Monroe St

http://www.witsend.org/gen/AnnieMoore/32_monroe_st.htm

In 1892, 32 Monroe St. was one of a cluster of tenements in Manhattan's Lower East Side. By the early 1930s, when this picture was taken, the area was called the "Lung Block" because of the many cases of respiratory dieases, such as tuberculosis, that inflicted its residents. The tenements were torn down soon after to create Knickerbocker Village. This view is from Market towards Catherine. 32 Monroe would have been about where the "K" of "The New York Times" is. Note the twin towers of the Catholic Church on the right. (Photo is available for purchase from NYTimes Store.)

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